Sweet look, determination, Livia is an illustrator, exploded on Instagram, with many things to say. We met her and decided to release her interview on the day the women are celebrated. It is no a coincidence, she is, in fact, a staunch supporter of the female gender and the facets that distinguish it.
Your illustrations give a romantic imagination, is it important that a female artist continues to communicate her sensitivity while having to fight against prejudices?
Very important. In my path, I am committed to ensuring that the emotional side of everyone shows themselves without fear and finds the right form to be expressed and communicated. Sensitivity must be trained and not recluded, it is not a factor of vulnerability, but a tool to get to know each other and to empathize with those around us. As such, it would be a shame to hide it for fear of others' prejudices, the emotions are for everyone and one should not be ashamed of them. Training for sensitivity is a long and complicated journey, those who have not yet started it may be more inclined to judge and bear the weight of prejudices. On the other hand, those who have already taken their first steps realize how empty and transparent other people's offenses are and are capable of reducing their value.
Do you have a reference artist? A figure that inspires you and that can embody a symbol of rupture?
I always tend to be inspired more by situations than people, so I can hardly identify a reference figure in this sense. I am convinced that an artistic path is the expression of a research so intimate that it is largely unconscious. We keep and rework images that have shaped our person over the years. In this sense, the inspiration deriving from other figures is in my opinion an unconscious factor and difficult to analyze in the first person. I certainly respect many artists who have little to do with my work, but who I believe have opened new avenues and new observation spaces, first of all certainly Marina Abramović.
Do you believe, with your art, to actively contribute to beat dogmas?
I hope so and I hope to transmit the strength and courage to analyze and discover oneself, not to be afraid of one's sensitivity and emotions.
Tell us about a striking episode of gender discrimination in which you have been the protagonist.
A young woman who works as a freelancer and makes her way in different areas is often exposed to situations of discrimination. I talk about it firsthand, excluding the adjective “striking” from my story because, luckily, no personal experience and it doesn't give me any way to use it. It has often happened to me, however, to receive comments and messages from men with whom I have been in contact for work that have little to do with my job as an illustrator. Although there are clearly worse experiences, I have always found it extremely annoying to have to pay attention to this aspect in working relationships. I am a woman and I am a freelancer, an employment relationship should not include responding to advances of any kind.
How did you find the strength to emerge in a world where illustrators have Instagram as a stage?
Mine was a fairly unconscious initiative in a period in which few illustrators used social media to show their works. Moved by the need to tell me, I chose the space that offered me an immediate possibility without, moreover, putting my face on it. Initially I had decided not to show myself, then, over time, the opposite became inevitable. Instagram has the great power to reach anyone in a public space that most of the times we consult privately. Standard issues are often addressed, as if there was a script to stick to on social media. The truth is that we can tell everything and I chose to talk about myself in the truest way possible, as if it were a diary, but excluding those gossip and storytelling contents that we usually consult on instagram. I tell about myself, but I do it only through emotions. Over time a real collection has been created on my profile, the presentation of my personal story mediated by my sensitivity and this pushes me every day to continue in the presentation of my artistic project on social networks. I would like to be an example for those who do not yet have the courage to look inside.