Calligrams

In the Calligrams, I wanted the face to take shape through readable words, so the texts do not decorate the portrait but build its features, contours and shadows, becoming an essential part of the image.

The idea comes from the relationship between an author and the public image that forms around them. In the case of a singer, a poet or a band, words can feed a parasocial relationship: many people identify with those texts and end up perceiving someone they do not actually know as familiar.

The choice of texts is a fundamental part of the work. I include well-known lines, lines that are important to me, and words that I feel can reveal something of the figure behind the icon. In this way, each portrait becomes a synthesis of public image, personal interpretation and distance from the real person.

I am also interested in the way the viewer can search for a line, follow it across the face and reconstruct a sentence that memory has already completed.

With the Calligrams, I try to represent a public figure who feels close and familiar, yet remains inevitably different from the real person.