Annalaura di Luggo to reveal her next project before the screening of her art documentary Blind Vision at the Niagara Falls International Film Festival

Annalaura di Luggo to reveal her next project before the screening of her art documentary Blind Vision at the Buffalo Niagara Falls International Film Festival

September 29th, 2018 – The artist, designer, and director Annalaura di Luggo will announce her new project White Spots at the Buffalo Niagara Falls International Film Festival. Taking the iris as a starting point, White Spots will explore how people with Down syndrome perceive the world. Scheduled for development in 2019, the documentary will be directed by Stanley Isaacs. Annalaura will share this exciting news as she gives the introductory remarks to the screening of her documentary ‘Blind Vision.’ During her announcement she will present the accomplished director Isaacs with an artwork of his iris that will be given to him during the gala event.

Eyes are the windows of the soul and they are at the core of Annalaura di Luggo’s artistic oeuvre. In her work, the iris is a marker of identity. Through images of the iris, she captures the essence of her models that range from Hollywood stars and international politicians to the homeless and inmates. Thousands of people, from all walks of life, have become immortalized in photographs taken by the artist with her one-of-a-kind patented camera. After each sitting, Annalaura di Luggo asks of her subjects to answer a set of personal questions. This penetration of the mind remains an integral part of her work.

BLIND VISION – In her hometown, Naples, Annalaura di Luggo worked with 20 blind people to explore their inner universe. Using her custom-built camera she photographed their clouded, scarred, and dysfunctional eyes. Then, the artist recorded and filmed encounters and interviews with her subjects. The project culminated in a multimedia installation curated by Raisa Clavijo and the documentary film co-written by di Luggo and Nanni Zedda, and directed by the latter. Both the documentary film and the installation are striking and deeply emotional portrayals of what it means to see with only tactile and auditory senses: the portrayal of an alternative vision.

The documentary film is not only a vehicle for research into human perception, but it aims to socially and culturally integrate people with different visual skills. Blind Vision features women, men, and children who have lost their sight sharing testimonies of real life that outline the daily difficulties of a life lived in darkness. Through the documentary film, the viewer is catapulted into a sensory and emotional journey. Viewers share the anger, fear, and melancholy felt by the blind, but also their extraordinary desire to live. The film is a journey of light, it is informative for those in the dark about blindness and, through it’s celebratory spotlighting, it enlightens the minds of those who are blind.

During the World Conference on Disability (CRPD-Conference on Rights of Persons with Disabilities), Italy’s Permanent Representation to the United Nations organized an exhibition of Blind Vision artworks and the documentary screening at the United Nations neck 1 area. On June 11th, S.E. Ambassador Inigo Lambertini inaugurated “Blind Vision solo show,” which was attended by heads of state and individuals from the government, as well as collectors, art critics, curators, and various characters from New York’s elite. After the run of the exhibition, 11-15th of June, it was transferred, at the request of Minister Francesco Genuardi, to the Italian Consulate General of New York. The exhibition is scheduled to be staged again in collaboration with Victor Calise, the New York City Councilor for Disability.

“Blind Vision is an important step in my research, because I chose to put myself in the shoes of visually impaired people to try to understand what it means to have the darkness ahead,” Annalaura di Luggo says. “I wanted this project to encourage cultural and social integration of blind and visually impaired people and propose a supportive vision. Not being able to share a gaze, I opted for physical contact, and hand in hand they led me on an exciting journey, allowing me to discover alternative ways of perceiving the world. The artworks I created, as a result of this experience, must be perceived through a sensorial approach, by using also touch and hearing. I wanted to reproduce the learning process I experienced along this project.”

PRAISE FOR BLIND VISION

Fascinated by the communicative power of the documentary film and installation, many artists, critics and curators wrote about the project. Steve Kundsen artist, professor of painting and professor of Savannah, Georgia, USA, declared: << The aim of the artist is clearly to restore dignity to people who are often rejected as “anomalous”, and to reaffirm their role to the internal of the company >>. The Donnaregina Foundation (MUSEO MADRE di Napoli) also supported the project, which awarded Blind Vision the prestigious Matronato of the Madre Museum aimed at recognizing and promoting projects that for their value and

cultural quality stimulate social cohesion, scientific research. and humanistic dialogue between different disciplines and support for artistic production and mediation as a source and stimulus for collective progress. Andrea Viliani, director of the MADRE museum, writes: “By articulating this dichotomy between mind and body, exterior appearance and intimate sphere, di Luggo challenges her method of analysis and the very foundations of the discipline by facing the gaze of subjects with total or profound visual disability. Deepening a relationship of confrontation and interaction, the artist has favored tactile and oral contact to introduce herself into a dimension of behavioral experiences that deepens the concept of “vision” evoking and sharing alternative ways >>. From the same opinion, the American writer Paul Laster wrote: << The human eye is unique, individual and emblematic. Always considered a mirror of the soul, the eye can reveal many things about a person, and that is why he played such a fundamental role in art >> and when speaking about the artist he added << Reproducing on a large scale the image of a person’s eye Annalaura di Luggo immortalizes the whole universe in a circular form. Thanks to the giant format, her images reveal the individual character of each of her subjects >>.

The American curator Raisa Clavijo stated: << The results of Blind Vision can not be perceived only as “works of art”, because they lead us to a sublime experience of personal growth that is based on human interaction >>.

Annalaura di Luggo has exhibited globally, she has participated in the most important art fairs, ranging from Art Basel in Basel, to Miami, New York, and Sao Paulo, among others. She has created permanent installations for the public sector and private collections. But, her artistic predisposition has always been towards work with powerful social impact, such as: “Never Give up” a permanent installation created inside an isolation cell of the Minor Prison in Nisida (NA) where the eyes of the prisoners and the sentences written on the walls teach us the true value of freedom. “Human Rights Vision,” (critical text by Francesco Gallo Mazzeo) an auctioned work, curated by Fabrizio Moretti, at Palazzo Vecchio- Florence, to support the aims of the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Foundation. Here the eyes offer a different interpretation: they are used to “raise the vision of the world and promote a spirit of brotherhood.”

Annalaura di Luggo (1970) was born in Naples, Italy, where she lives and works.

Annalaura di Luggo has shown in Italy and in galleries in Miami, New York, San Paolo, and Paris. Her artworks are included in several private collections and can be seen at the Istanbul Ritz Carlton Hotel, Miace Museum, Colosimo Museum permanent exhibit, Nisida Prison Museum permanent exhibit, and the Genoa International Boat show.

SOLO SHOWS

New York, USA: “Blind Vision” multimedia project curated by The Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations H.E. Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi on the occasion of the XI Conference of State Parties to the CRPD. 1b Neck Area – United Nations.

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy: “Blind Vision” multimedia project curated by Raisa Clavijo, documentary directed by Nanni Zedda. Hotel Miramonti Majestic.

New York, USA: “Occh-IO/Eye-I” show and shooting curated by Alcinda Saphira. Saphira&Ventura Gallery

Naples: “Blind Vision” multimedia project curated by Raisa Clavijo, documentary directed by Nanni Zedda. Piazza Vittoria public exhibit in special edition.

Naples, Italy: “Annalaura di Luggo: Recent Works” presentation curated by InsideArt director, Guido Talarico. IQOS Art Gallery

Florence, Italy: Human Rights Vision for Kennedy Foundation – auction conducted by Fabrizio Moretti. Palazzo Vecchio, salone dei Cinquecento.

Naples, Italy: “Blind Vision” multimedia project curated by Raisa Clavijo, documentary directed by Nanni Zedda. Istituto Paolo Colosimo per ciechi e ipovedenti di Napoli.

Rome, Italy: “Annalaura di Luggo: Recent Works” Fabrique du Cinema, Ex Dogana.

New York, USA: Presentation organized in collaboration with writer Kerry Kennedy, show and shooting.

Castellammare di Stabia, Italy: “MOVIsion” Gala Cinema Fiction. Castello Medioevale di Castellammare

Genoa, Italy: “Sea Visions, 7 viewpoints” 56th Genoa International Boat Show.

Heidelberg, Germany: “Stimuli to Change” Heidelberg University Museum.

Naples, Italy: “Never Give Up, The Donation” curated by Guido Cabib, permanent exhibition. Nisida Juvenile Detention Center.

Monte-Carlo, Principality of Monaco: “Occh-IO/Eye-I” curated by Guido Cabib. Salle des Etoiles.

Miami, USA: “Occh-IO/Eye-I” show and shooting. White Dot Gallery.

Milan, Italy: “Occh-IO/Eye-I” show and shooting. Monte Paschi di Siena.

Milan, Italy: “Occh-IO/Eye-I” “Mirror of the Soul, A Journey between Science and Faith” vernissage and convention. Le Stelline Foundation.

Milann, Italy: “Occh-IO/Eye-I” curated by Guido Cabib. The Format Gallery.

Turin, Italy: “Never Give Up” Special Project, curated by Guido Cabib. The Others Fair.

GROUP SHOWS

Basel, Switzerland, Scope Art Fair curated by Mark Hachem Gallery Paris & Saphira and Ventura Gallery.

New York, USA: Scope Art Fair curated by Naif International Gallery.

Miami, USA: Art Basel Week, Scope Art Fair curated by Naif International Gallery.

Boca Raton, Florida, USA: Art Boca Raton, “Journeys” curated by Raisa Clavijo.

Reggio Calabria, Italia: “Questa casa non è un albergo” curated by Giuseppe Capparelli.