Flaminia Veronesi, "Sirena", 2020.

Watercolor on paper, 56x76 cm.

Flaminia Veronesi lives and works in London. After a Foundation Course year at Central Saint Martins in 2009 she graduated from Chelsea University of Arts and Design. Her work, dedicated to representing the fantastical in a contemporary visual language and populated by mythological creatures and dreamlike figures, invites the viewer to cross the threshold of reality, challenging its boundaries and, therefore, its taboos and restrictions. Flaminia has exhibited in London, Milan, Paris and Zurich, developing an eclectic visual language that varies from installations to sculptures, objects, drawings and paintings.

For this exhibition, the artist has chosen the fantastical archetype of the mermaid because, thanks to its dual animal and human nature, monstrous and divine, it is a mythological figure that manages to navigate the two universes and relate to both. In Flaminia's work, the mermaid is a recurring figure, used to represent the ability of an artist to immerse herself in the depths of the collective unconscious, the ability of the human being to play both in reality and in a parallel imaginary dimension. It also references the conflict within the woman, her double identity: on the one hand she is a free individual, on the other she is the creature called by nature every month when her menstrual cycle arrives. Although the tail makes her agile, she is also vulnerable and awkward on the surface of the water. The world is becoming a place for mermaids who choose not to disguise their tail and will soon be ready to welcome nature that is both monstrous and divine.

This artwork is part of the Viva la Vulva by Nuvenia project: a collective exhibition by international artists that aims to break down taboos linked to the female body in conjunction with an online charity auction in favor of the Italian Red Cross. The works will be on display at Six Gallery in Milan from 9 to 11 October.

"We are born free from taboos. We live in a society that forces them upon us, feeding stereotypes. Talking about them helps to break them down and learn to accept each other: because we are all perfect precisely because we are different".