Bio
Linda Pietrobelli (2001) and Ambra Zamengo (2002) are currently pursuing their Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Arts at IUAV University of Venice. In 2023, they formed the collective “LOVELY-RATZ”, born from the desire to work together, engaging with the dimension of “the other” and considering it as necessary for the development of thought.
Statement
Bringing together performance and photography in the analysis of human dynamics, with a particular focus on interpersonal relationships and roles in society, our artistic research focuses on individual communication modes, privileging women and queer perspectives. Often, other people become the focal point of the creative process and the work itself.
We constantly work to create spaces for dialogue and reflection, stimulating an empathetic connection. In the harmonious union of aesthetics and conceptual research, our artistic practice shapes visual and theoretical connections through performative practices and bodily gestures. Through performance, we explore how the body interacts with the surrounding space, reinterpreting and shaping the environment through the body, and through its perception.
Body and garment merge in a close connection: clothes become a bearer of identity, both individual and cultural, interacting in a profound relationship that combines the concepts of fashion and performance. This approach allows us to explore and communicate the complex dynamics of human relationships, places, individuals, and communities.
In the pursuit of a pre-practical human and emotional dialogue, we are interested in better understanding the human being in all its facets, through a psychological and anthropological approach to understanding other cultures. Hence, our interest in connecting territory, nature, and the human subject through expressive means such as photography, performance, and other artistic channels.
I’ve got you on my skin
Group exhibition “FARE”, Laboratorio di Arti visive 1 (held by Diego Tonus with the collaboration of Daniele Zoico), IUAV University of Venice
Photo credits Marco Reghelin, 2023
Dozens of people have been involved in the development of something that has been passed down to them through drawings, words, and symbols on an A4 sheets. The performer chose to use her body as a surface to transfer their personal histories, using tattoo stencils.
This ancient ritual of skin marking, with its various social and personal facets, reveals its identity function: each tattoo is like an indelible signature that distinguishes one person from all the others and determines their own uniqueness. Each individual has thus shared a part of their history passed down from someone else.
Once the drawings were collected, they were manually retraced to create the stencils, inevitably modifying the original stroke. During the performance, the stencils were applied by the performer, but other people also had the opportunity to do so, directly engaging with the body of the woman and becoming active components of the process. When the stencils are passed from hand to hand, they generate a chain of stories and identities that contribute to the birth of a new tradition.
This practice highlights an anthropological aspect, emphasizing the process of cultural transmission and the importance of symbols and traditions in the construction of individual and collective identity. Each stroke, symbol, or word passed from hand to hand carries with it a part of the history and identity of those who created them and those who received them, contributing to the creation of a network of human and cultural connections.