ANAESTHESIA by Valentina Abenavoli

A collection of works by Valentina Abenavoli, an Italian artist and founder of AKINA BOOKS.

In 2015, while recuperating in Istanbul, Abenavoli was shocked by the terrorist attacks in Paris. Because the attacks occurred in a place where many of his friends were, he felt empathy and fear among his friends. In response to the continued negative events of terrorism and war, Abenavoli began working on a series of works that explore the themes of evil and empathy. Using found images and screenshots, this book explores the theme of empathy through collective memory.

"ANAESTHESIA is a lament of many voices, a symphony of evil in man, a cinematically edited video screenshot, a battle with the media, an open critique of war and terrorism, a declaration of neutrality, and an act of rebellion against the ego. It is a work in which one stands alone, refusing to feel anything beyond one's limits. But nothing could be more painful than to be free of the burden of the senses, to distance oneself from life and from connection, without suffering any more. In the lyricism of the suffering of the heart, in the yearning for the end of inner loneliness, what is more ambiguous than the desire to feel the other? In the face of the other, personal joy becomes as absolute and universal as personal pain. What remains is love against fear, and the fear of love." Valentina Abenavoli

-

Title: ANAESTHESIA
Artist: Valentina Abenavoli
AKINA, 2018
Softcover, 260 x 190 mm
96 pages
Text in English
First edition
¥6,500 + tax