Giulia Vanelli was born in 1996 in Tuscany, Italy. In 2018 she spent a schooling period at Stephen F. Austin University, Texas. She got a BA in Photography at Fine Arts Academy of Florence, where she is currently teaching. In 2020 she was selected for an artistic residency at Fabrica, the Benetton Group Communication Research Center. In 2021 she is among the main artists at Festival Diecixdieci in Gonzaga with her project ‘The Ugly Duckling’. In her work she blends documentary narratives with intimate approaches, always starting from personal experiences.
About The Ugly Duckling – words by Giulia Vanelli:
The human mind does not always get along with changes and everything that follows – this is why it creates natural barriers and feels discomfort with never experienced before situations. Unconsciously, we make sure to remain anchored to the starting point in a known “umbra” that prevents you from betting on yourself.
These difficulties generate great fear, laying the foundations of a bad development of personal perception, therefore preventing self-esteem. At that point, we only believe in the negative perception that the community sends us back, convinced we have no value at all. Our assigned identity gets so completely into the part that it does not matter how much you try to escape – it keeps following us like a shadow. Then one day a doubt arises. Are the others really hindering our path or are we the ones who have chosen to live at the boundaries of our potential? Who really drew the line? The acceptance path becomes then a personal challenge, a rite of passage that does not allow you to carry your past like some heavy luggage.
If you give in to fear, you end up being identified with this false image all your life.
If you have the courage to face yourself, you may then arrive at the progressive liberation from the bonds of alienation – recognizing them is the first step.
