Diaspora 2020

Curator: Right now we're looking at Camilla d’Errico’s “Diaspora,” created in 2020 using acrylic paint. What are your first thoughts? Editor: Immediately, there's this strange androgynous figure staring, or rather not staring, as their face is largely covered by pale blue hair, at some absent point—it’s melancholic, the almost porcelain skin with the hint of pink against that pastel blue, the whole color palette just softens the reality and any harder edge around identity. Curator: The piece definitely resonates with the soft etherealness you've pointed out. For me, there's also this idea of releasing or carrying away of ideas symbolized through the floating dandelion seeds surrounding her head and emanating from what she's holding against her chest, some kind of otherworldly compact mirror containing another dandelion. Editor: Yes, and how is that little mirror actually made? The materiality here seems quite crucial in grounding what would otherwise risk being purely a work of fantasy. The surface is so smoothly worked with such clean lines; this is very careful application and points toward the artistic labor involved in even the most seemingly "fantastical" painting, an interesting clash in genres, I must say! Curator: I like how the piece almost presents two halves - a serene, melancholy figure juxtaposed against the abstract concept of dispersion, which the title hints at—a “scattering,” or a sowing of seeds if you will, very beautifully contrasted! There's an active, forceful movement captured in a still form! And for the face being partially covered, I see a depth of emotion pouring forth that can touch the innermost part of a soul. Editor: The figure is in the midst of something intensely private as well—bearing a form that holds more dandelions almost like its womb, giving birth to more dispersal that is also clearly coded as female. Curator: Agreed, perhaps symbolizing a cycle of ideas and migrations, a diaspora of the mind and soul... Thank you, this has brought new clarity! Editor: And I'm taking away an acute awareness of process - the unseen labour lying underneath fantasy! Very nice.