From the Italian photographer Paola Francesca Barone, we present a series titled ‘FAINETAI MOI.’ Inspired by the archaic poem 31, by Sappho, the artist created an intimate depiction of erotic connection.
“Faced with the expansion of a rational order that tends to absorb every dimension of human life, eros rises as a cry of revolt: the more rationality becomes all-encompassing, the more the irrationality secretly governing it grows compelling,” says Barone. By covering the faces of her subjects, the artist accentuated the totality and universality of sensual devotion. “Intimacy must not be sought as an end but as a bridge: eros is a breaking of the self, an expropriation of subjectivity, a letting-oneself-be-traversed by the other until one is carried beyond one’s own identity, role, and convention,” the photographer adds.
Barone’s illustration of erotic love is subversive in its tenderness, moving away from carnal force towards gentle connection. The series brings to mind classic paintings; it is infused with a shroud of mystery and privacy. A desire experienced freely and safely can be transformative and reassuring. “Freed from traditional social constraints, it rests entirely on the individuals who encounter one another, giving voice to the deepest and most unheeded needs of existence,” the artist mentions.
Barone’s photography channels its vitality from a cumulus of femininity and a strong drive for intimacy, piercing the external shell of inhibition and alienation. This is a gentle series about letting go of one’s preconceptions and ego. About compromise and attachment. About love and self-acceptance.
The artist is eager to enthrall the idea of connection, enshrining the subjects within a concealed metaphorical bubble to simulate a spiritual link, a shared breath of air. Through these private captures, the viewer takes part in a communion of souls rather than bodies. It is a merging of two distinct entities found in a state of willingly discovering each other, which, positioned in a mirroring, tender scenario, could very well allude to the idea of rediscovering oneself.
“Desire, touch, and the seeking of one another in intimacy represent an attempt to violate the boundaries of the ego in order to reach authentic communication, beyond social masks,” explains Barone. “Erotic love is an act of ethical and anthropological resistance: a refusal to be defined by external norms and expectations in order to discover one’s own uniqueness through contact with otherness.”
The series also evokes a deeply relatable idea of self-discovery, achieved either by crossing boundaries to find one’s limits or even by losing oneself in another for the same purpose. “An exploration of one’s own limits,” as the artist puts it, “an attempt to reach the other without losing oneself, or perhaps, precisely by losing oneself, to find oneself again.”
Read our “Roots” issue in full
The new theme, born as usual from what the submitted works held in common, is “ROOTS.” Within its pages, we present the artworks, creativity, and inspiration of 60 visual artists and writers from 21 countries around the world. Their diverse voices come together around a shared exploration of the return to where one belongs, the invisible threads of tradition that shape identity, and the ongoing reconnection with nature, others, and oneself.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
