About me

My name is Giovanna. I grew up in Tuscany, in a big country house at the end of a gravel road. I spent the first years of my life in the meadows, under the trees, among the vines and olive trees and with our many beloved cats.

At home, there were always more or less temporary guests, from Switzerland (my parents’ country), from Germany, sometimes from more distant countries. Swiss German, German and English were spoken at our table. When I was five, I started learning Italian in kindergarten.

I believe that nature at my doorstep and the absence of television nurtured and encouraged my flourishing imagination, making realism and plausibility unnecessary.

My mother’s transverse spirituality certainly opened the door to my personal, somewhat magical approach to things, which is very important and present in the animals I paint.

I always liked painting, but I lacked the tools to realise what I imagined. I‘ve been developing these! – in the atelier of painter Francesco di Lernia in Turin, my extraordinary and wise teacher.

The animals in my paintings are the result of real encounters, dreams, fascination and fun in creating imaginary worlds full of colours. Sometimes my paintings have been commissioned, but most times they’re my spontaneous creation.

I learnt to sew from my mother, who learnt it from her mother, a professional seamstress. I modify, recycle or create garments from scratch. I have been collecting fabrics for years: new, second-hand, from clothes I no longer use or that I buy specifically to get the material. My mother gives me remnants from her creations.

In Florence, where I studied Literature at university, I was struck by the artistic technique of a neighbour who created landscapes by patiently gluing fabrics together, strip by strip. I liked the material and raw character of the result, rough to the touch.

I forgot about it. Years later, in Francesco’s atelier in Turin, I did my first painting with a base of glued fabrics, on which I painted with acrylic colour.

Finally, I found ‘my’ method. At first, I used larger portions of fabric, then I realised that I liked doing collages with smaller scraps in order to create nuances and more complex passages, finally painting over the subjects. For the base, I can pick fabrics from all the material I have collected over the years.

The fabrics are an active part of the process: I know that the image I have in my head will take its own path thanks to and through the fabrics I have. I know the starting point, but not the end result, and this invariably surprises me every time.

To fund my time I work as a translator.