Ileana Florescu, a cultured and refined artist, wanted to push her gaze beyond the classic placement of the book by choosing to exhibit, inside one of the oldest libraries in Rome, a series of works in which the texts are literally cradled by the waves of the sea.
Through surprising light effects, made even more evocative by the choice of different seabeds, the books are reborn in water that "washes, purifies and regenerates," freeing them from the injustice of false moralism and the sleep of reason of Goyesque memory.
Through surprising light effects, made even more evocative by the choice of different seabeds, the books are reborn in water that "washes, purifies and regenerates," freeing them from the injustice of false moralism and the sleep of reason of Goyesque memory.
The photographer was able to make use of contemporary editions, going side by side with Stendhal's The Red and the Black and Voltaire's Candide, illustrating the blindness that led to the censorship of Fogazzaro's The Saint and then showing in all its power the thought of Hume and the immortality of Locke's writings.
Ileana Florescu was born in Asmara (Eritrea) to an Italian mother and an English father, who was of Romanian origin.After spending her childhood in Morocco, France, England and Switzerland, she settled in Italy and earned a master degree in Humanities. Despite a natural talent for painting and drawing, she entered the academic world taking part in Prof. Sergio Bertelli’s History Workshop, and specializing in the study of the Commedia dell’Arte and the rituals of Italian Renaissance courts.Her essays have been published by Bompiani, Mondadori, Ponte alle Grazie and Bulzoni.In 2001 her work “Meteorite I” was exhibited for the first time by the Pio Monti Contemporary Art Gallery in the group show “Tra Cielo e Terra”. Her first solo exhibition, “Scie”, was in 2002, curated by Diego Mormorio at the Acta International gallery in Rome. That same year, she decided to relocate her studio to the former Cerere pasta factory, historic seat of the artists’ School San Lorenzo. Lately, her works are focused on the dialogue between photography and literature and were shown in many museums ad galleries, in Italy and abroad.
Ileana Florescu, Libri Prohibiti
Hardcover, 20,5 x 30 cm, 152 pages | Castelvecchi Editore | 978-8869442-79-7
Designed and made by Nicola Veccia Scavalli