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Group Name: Momento
Location: Italy, South Tyrol, Bolzano Period: 2023/24 Local group coordinator/sender’s information: Petra Grabowski Group members: Adults (6): Karin Egger, Alessandra Galetti, Barbara Niggi, Blanka Pan, Barbara Schindler, Petra Amor Kids/Teenagers (2): Anais Poduie (9 years), Sophie Poduie (14 years) Affiliation: Free University of Bolzano, Faculty of Education, South Tyrol, Italy Exhibitions 2024 |
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Within this research, we want to rediscover moments that are captured in personal photographic collections by using handcrafting techniques like e.g., embroidery, photo transfer, and drawing. In a first step, each participant transferred printed photos to a textile medium. By using our hands, we aimed to elaborate mindfully the digitally captured time-pieces and express meaning while working together in a group. Most of the squares have a written component which we call Vignette. Together, each image and text forms a set of two components which we named Image Vignettes. Each artwork is the expression of a certain moment and place and describes an aesthetic experience. 
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One exhibition in the very North of Italy in Bolzano during Bolzano Art Weeks, September 2024, and an Art Installation with the squares during the Aura Art Festival in July 2024 in Sicily, in the very South of Italy. see here the invitation |
Theme and name of the group: Momento
The group's name contains and describes the theme and content of the discussion: Momento. In Italian, ‘momento’ means 'one moment please' - it expresses the request for a short break. Momento therefore describes the modus of slowing down that we explicitly aimed for: to take a deeper look at the moments that were captured in the photos. These reflections took place talking to each other while working together in the group: Transferring the photographs on pieces of textile fabric (cm 10x10) and elaborating them using embroidery techniques. Momento also refers to the chosen content. (1) Exploring precious moments of the past that were collected digitally and somehow buried in a non-corporal space. (2) Lifting the pictures to a physical and corporeal level through the chosen technique. In this way, we tried to give these impressions another chance (moment) to arise in life. The aim was to look at the respective feelings and places from a new perspective and to share these moments while doing art together.
The group's name contains and describes the theme and content of the discussion: Momento. In Italian, ‘momento’ means 'one moment please' - it expresses the request for a short break. Momento therefore describes the modus of slowing down that we explicitly aimed for: to take a deeper look at the moments that were captured in the photos. These reflections took place talking to each other while working together in the group: Transferring the photographs on pieces of textile fabric (cm 10x10) and elaborating them using embroidery techniques. Momento also refers to the chosen content. (1) Exploring precious moments of the past that were collected digitally and somehow buried in a non-corporal space. (2) Lifting the pictures to a physical and corporeal level through the chosen technique. In this way, we tried to give these impressions another chance (moment) to arise in life. The aim was to look at the respective feelings and places from a new perspective and to share these moments while doing art together.
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Idea of the group and working process
The idea for the Momento group was inspired by the seemingly infinite number of photos that each of us has accumulated digitally over the years. We discussed the oversaturation of images in our digitalized world: In our devices, smartphones, and social media accounts. We recognized that we collect an infinite number of images that often remain buried in a digital nowhere land. Therefore, we decided to take photos as a starting point for the creative process. On closer inspection, we realized that some of the stored pictures contain particularly precious moments to us. We discovered that these selected pictures are also always associated with certain places on the one hand and moments of contemplation on the other. These moments can be described as an aesthetic experience. The desire arose to explore these moments, to pause, to reflect on them, and to bring them from the digital level to the material surface. |
We aimed to (re-)discover through textile cartographies these places and moments that were captured in our personal photo collections. After transferring the photos to a textile medium embroidery is used as a method to slow down the experience and to (re-)discover the single photos, also using our tactile senses. During the working process, we added vignettes to some pictures. The vignettes (in text form) are not a description or supplement to the images, but they are part of the creative process. They are understood as a co-existing documentation of the respective time slot in which the photos were taken. The Vignettes are meant to give space for expressing spontaneously personal feelings thoughts, atmospheres, and impressions remembering the moment in which the photo was taken.
During the working process, it emerged that photo-transferring is a time-intensive technique with periods of waiting for drying. During this time, we proceeded to produce more squares simply by painting on them while talking. Inspired by seeing us, our kids started to contribute in their own way. They enjoyed working on textile surfaces with watercolors while reflecting on nature.
Brief process description:
(1) choose photos that represent a special moment
(2) print and transfer photos to a textile medium (10x10 cm)
(3) rediscover the same images in another, new way by handcrafting e.g., embroidery
(4) eventually writing a Vignette for the square
(1) choose photos that represent a special moment
(2) print and transfer photos to a textile medium (10x10 cm)
(3) rediscover the same images in another, new way by handcrafting e.g., embroidery
(4) eventually writing a Vignette for the square
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About the Group Coordinator
Petra Grabowski is a Ph.D. candidate at UniBZ, Faculty of Education. She has a background in Fine Arts and obtained her Master's Degree with honours in Interior and Urban Design at the RUFA (Rome University of Fine Arts), Rome. Her current research focuses on holistic learning models, in particular inquiring within art education the possibilities for SEL (Social and Emotional Learning). The focus of the empirical inquiry of her PhD is on bodily-spatial design and three-dimensional construction within art lessons which are also conducted outdoors with the purpose to foster environmental awareness. |
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