Erika has managed to combine two great passions – art and love for others – by working in art therapy. Hers is a complex and profound world, because her art investigates and questions the mental schemes in which we all risk being trapped to some extent.
Erika, tell us about your story.
My baptism into the world of art dates back to when I was very young. I had an uncle who painted and he often took me with him. I loved going around with him and his watercolours to watch him paint. That’s why I always had clear ideas: I wanted to attend art school and then the Academy of Fine Arts and that’s how it was. Unfortunately it is not easy to make a living with this kind of education, but I followed another passion and started working in social work. I got a job in a psychiatric community as an operator, they gave me the opportunity to do painting and so I started to study art therapy. Since then I have always associated art with disability and psychiatry, in all areas and with people of all ages. I currently work in a Multipurpose Medical Centre and hold creative workshops in a small school attended by children with major disabilities, including autism.
What happens in their lives when they encounter art?
The first benefit is the relaxing effect. Kids generally need to find an environment that calms them down, where they can concentrate. Being able to get a boy to stay in a classroom, decrease vocalising, prevent him from wandering around and reduce aggression are very important results. When they paint they relax, mentally and physically. For me, their drawings are real works of art and many times I take inspiration from what they do. Neurodivergent people have an expressive freedom that we do not have, and this can be a source of inspiration. It was important for me to confront myself with them, because when I started ‘producing’ art again, after the Academy, I had lost my hand a bit with drawing: so I started with collage, a technique that I use a lot with my kids and that I have gradually deepened for my works.
Are there recurring themes in your works?
For a few years now I have been working on the concept of the ‘feminine’, in a somewhat provocative way. In the collages, for example, there are often these somewhat glossy and stereotypical figures of women from magazines from the 1960s, where they explained how to iron, how to cook and so on. From there I continued by printing on paper patterns and making needle and thread works: in short, I started mending images and objects.
What is behind this mending of yours?
Well, it wasn’t immediately clear to me but I think it’s a bit like mending a wound. This stereotyped family dimension, where there is the woman with all her well-defined and repetitive tasks, is for me something that requires an intervention. For me this is also therapeutic. I call the work a ‘product’, because it is the testimony of something that happened, of an act that had an effect on me and left beautiful marks.
What do you think of Cinquerosso Arte?
I think it is a beautiful initiative. I have seen a special attention, a special care, and I regret that I am not able to participate much in the various meetings between the collaborators. However, I already have some works ready that I would like to send, so I hope you will see some new ones soon.
