Ancora! is done...

Ancora! is a continuation of earlier investigations into migrant ethnicity, identity and modes of assimilation. While in other works, such as Memory Deep, I used mimicry and humour to explore pop culture models of Italian identity, Ancora! looks more closely at the definitions and stereotypes of the ‘authentic’. Once again grappling with the hybridity of being a third generation Italian-Australian, Ancora! opened a path to discover the variations between Nonna’s kitchen and Milanese fashion houses, to find who ‘real’ Italians actually are. 

I had initially planned to make a series of videos highlighting the frustrations of linguistic barriers and the degree of estrangement or involvement they can impose on an ‘outsider’. I was required to repeat a sequence of phrases in Italian, with the ‘authentic’ interrupting where necessary to correct me. The phrases consisted of a one-sided conversation, a monologue listing the excuses for never having been to Italy, for not being able to speak Italian, for being born on the Gold Coast etc.

After placing an advertisement on Gumtree looking for native Italians to participate in the videos, I received several responses, incidentally all from men. As the correspondence through Gumtree, Facebook, email and text message went on, a fascinating story began to unfold, which I felt spoke more clearly than any video I could produce. It divulged the hidden layers of the male Italian psyche – a realm doubly mysterious to me in both its assertion of a national identity and its affirmation of being my sexual other. The digitally composed soundtrack was made to give a realistic voice to the cyber-reality in which these stories exist. In a game of spot-the-authentic, the photographic series depicts four men of different ages, from different regions of Italy, dressed in what I refer to methodologically as my ‘Italian Suit’. In the headscarf and dressing gown that reminds all five of us of our grandmothers, descriptions of gender and ethnicity begin to blur into one another.

As the participants volunteered without payment, the notion of exploitation must be considered. While each respondent had a unique motivation, many ranging from boredom and loneliness to curiosity and genuine interest, the spectrum of difference would ultimately, and perhaps inevitably result in one final purpose: that is, my ability to manipulate these people into works of art. This allows me to tell a story in spite of my severance from language, culture and roots. It is through my interpretation of who they are, who I am, and my ability to impose that upon them that I can identify the absurdity of the ‘authentic’. Anyone can be real, just as anyone can be a farce. It the context of the story that decides.