‘There are more self-storage facilities in America than there are McDonald's restaurants in the world’
As human beings, we have developed a tendency to form strong bonds to our possessions, this phenomenon is commonly known as the ‘Endowment Effect’. This inherent mechanism drives us to hold onto things, by creating justifications for retaining items, or provoking frustration, sadness, or even anxiety when we try to let go of them.
Saving every single object is for me the first step of a possible collection: notebooks, cans, stuffed animals, receipts, batteries, or parts of myself like teeth, hair, and nails, just to mention a few. I legitimize my ‘hoarding impulse’ by organizing my possessions into catalogs and series. I do that so I can tell myself I’m not a hoarder, I’m a collector.
Taking pictures is my way of celebrating detachment and to accept to let possessions go, it is my Therapy. I turn objects into images, images into films so I never remain empty-handed.
The project Therapy is my own process of using photography as a remedy to my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Instant FP_100C (Waste) 2019 New York
35mm b/w
Gaff (a) 2015 - 2019 New York
35mm color reversal
VHS with me in it 1992 Rome
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Organic (b) Collection of my body parts and body fluids 2009 / 2017 Rome
35mm b/w
Hair (a) Getting grey. Collection of hair from different cuts. 2013 - 2017 Rome / Cairo / New York
35mm film B/W
My first white pubic hair. May 15th 2019 New York
Digital file / Scan
Closed (a) Miscellaneous things divided in 36 boxes. 2016 / 2020 New York
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Box n. 22 (b) Chocolate wrapping 2020 New York
Digital files
Kinder (a) Jun 20th / Dec 20th 2017 New York
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Mesh zipper bags (a) 2012 / 2019 New York
35mm color reversal
Mesh zipper bags (b) 2012 / 2019 New York
35mm color reversal
Post-it (a) One year notes: July 2018 / July 2019 New York
120mm b/w
Letters from my mother 2016 / 2019; Selected articles I will never read 2016 / 2019; Letters from the bank April 2017 / April 2018; Photo booth March 2016 / July 2019 New York
120mm b/w
Kinder eggs (b) Framed series 2012 - 2016 Rome
35mm b/w
Circular (a1) Circular shape 2015 / 2020 New York
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Circular (c) Circular shape 2015 / 2018 New York
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Plastic bags - Black (a) 2015 / 2019 New York
35mm color reversal
Plastic bags - White (a) 2015 / 2019 New York
35mm color reversal
Deciduous teeth (a) 198X - 199X Rome
Digital files
Fragile (a) Collection of my x-ray and MRI 1989 - 2016 Rome / Cairo
Digital files
Receipts (a) Receipts from my psychologist. November 7th 2014 / February 4th 2016 Rome
35mm b/w