Geisha robes and Eastern philosophy.
(reading time 2’30”)
Virginia Cafiero is a multifaceted artist and a great lover of the “land of the rising sun.” This predilection for Japanese culture was born many years ago, when, at the beginning of her career, she experimented the use of different techniques: ceramics, tempera, pastels, until, however, she dwelt with particular interest on watercolor. She was immediately won over by this technique, which she describes as delicate and difficult, because, as Virginia explains, “If you make a mistake, you don’t go back, whereas techniques like oil and acrylic allow you to go over and correct the mistake.”
Doing research on watercolor, among other studies she obviously approaches the Eastern countries, longtime masters of this fascinating art.
She thus has the opportunity to focus her attention on the infinite nuances of this civilization, to the point of becoming passionate about it; an ancient culture, a world full of contradictions, rigid rules and values, which experiences contemporaneity with a deep respect for what is tradition.
THE PASSION FOR PAPER
Still through her passionate pursuit of various watercolor techniques, she discovered a new passion: paper. A love at first sight was born: “I always had the instinct from an early age to make cutouts, everything I could cut I cut. One day, while leafing through Diderot’s encyclopedia, the dictionary raisonné of sciences, arts and crafts, I lingered in curiosity over the chapter devoted to papermaking. You cannot work with watercolor on smooth paper, because it slips, it does not absorb. This, on the other hand, does not happen on porous, rough paper. Also, I like rough paper because it is mysterious, full of nooks and crannies, all to be discovered. I decided to make my own paper.”
She made herself a small loom out of reclaimed woods and, since she did not have cellulose fibers available, she made her first paper from scraps of pulped paper.
When you follow your heart and your passions, life presents you with opportunities that seem to connect one to the other, following an invisible thread, as if it were all part of a grand plan, perceptible only once you reach it.
Virginia, in fact, sees a parallel track between the world of paper and another great passion of hers: that of fashion. Inspired by the sculpture dresses of the great fashion designer Roberto Capucci, she makes paper kimonos, created in her loom and colored by plant elements, leaves, flowers, tea, clothes rich in finishing touches and symbolic representations.
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY AND GEISHA ROBES
Following Eastern philosophy, even for Virginia in choosing clothes nothing is left to chance and each image and color has a specific meaning. For example, she explains, white, which in Western culture is mainly worn at weddings, is a color for spiritual ceremonies in Japan and is also worn when a person dies. The bride, on the other hand, usually wears a red kimono as a sign of power. Unmarried girls are prohibited from wearing certain colors and types of clothing.
Kimonos are a veritable poem: every natural phenomenon, from rain to fog, is represented by a color, and the embroidered flora and fauna take on very specific meanings: the carp is a sacred fish, the crane wishes well-being and happiness, and water lilies symbolize purity. Japanese culture is deeply connected to nature, and clothes are worn in harmony with the month and the seasons: nature changes, the garment changes, the person changes.
Virginia Cafiero about Tom Porta
Virginia worked with us on the Hinomaru exhibition, creating the site-specific works-installations that framed the paintings of Tom Porta, who is also a renowned lover of Japanese art. “We share the same passion and you can feel the presence of this love in Tom Porta’s works. He has a way of working that captures, a dexterity and painting technique that is both instinctive and meticulous in detail, and this is precisely because he has a passion inside that moves him. The aviators have a vigorous expression, which makes one think of many things, war, battle. The geishas, shown mainly from the back, are of timeless elegance and refinement, telling us about a poetic and contradictory world.”
Virginia Cafiero
Virginia Cafiero creates paper doughs with meticulous patience through a careful and painstaking process, to which she combines vegetable elements, which she shapes into subtle irregular forms with rough surfaces and natural colors. Thus are born paper dresses, kimonos composed of tea bags. He collaborates with numerous city art spaces and exhibits his paper works throughout Europe. He has created exhibitions and installations for a number of museums in Genoa, such as the Commenda di Prè Museum, the Galata del Mare Museum and the Museum of St. Augustine.