Anna Maria Civico
terza edizione pronta
Mnemosine and traverzine, Anna Maria Civico—photos by Anna Maria Civico & Oreste Montebello
about
Anna Maria Civico's practice incorporates voice, movement, research and writing. Her work centres around unearthing and revitalising archaic Mediterranean songs through live interventions.
Mnemosine and Mnemosyne are two elements of her current approach that additionally reflect Greek culture. Just as traverzine mirrors the 's' in traverse (to cross/attraversare ... railway sleepers/traversine ... between/tra verse/verso) – Mnemosine and Mnemosyne's slight shift of one letter, from 'i' to 'y', traces subtle paths. In its tactile form, the felt and cotton piece marked with acrylic is passed from hand to hand as an aide-memoire to earlier sensibilities. Wrapped in tissue, tied with string, the textile is accompanied by a text, attached with a pearl-topped pin, printed on near translucent paper, with suggestions on how to memorise its poem before sleep. The piece similarly engages in practices recalled by heart in song and movement – a combined gift of far-reaching closeness at a time of personal distance.
Further references — films related to traverzine
issue three
Gulîstan, Land of Roses
Director Zaynê Akyol
Year 2016
Duration 86min subtitles
A group of female fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party set up a camp in the mountains under constant attacks from Daesh, and the Turkish and Iranian armed forces. These girls and young women left their families to protect the families of others. Together, they train in combat, venture into war zones and then come back to the heavily mined hills. They openly speak about war and the role women play in it. (DA Films)
Stendalì: Suonano ancora
Director Cecilia Mangini; Writers Pier Paolo Pasolini and Cecilia Mangini
Year 1960
Duration 13min
Cecilia Mangini is one of the great left-wing intellectuals of Italian cinema [...] A distinctive feature of Mangini’s filmmaking, which she has always considered a militant practice, is the use of archival material. As [...] she herself puts it, [her films are] an audiovisual legacy of the political struggles of the marginalized [...] giving them a voice and a face while simultaneously exposing the mechanisms of their social oppression. (Viennale 2019)