shashasha

Rather than a traditional photo book, Valentina Abenavoli’s “anaesthesia” is a care- and thoughtful recontextualisation of images of war and terror. Words from writers such as T.S. Eliot, Rousseau, Zizek and screenshots from war footage and execution videos are edited and arranged to form an engaging narrative.

“Anaesthesia is a lament of several voices, a symphony of the evil in us, cinematically edited screenshots from videos, an engagement with the media, an open criticism to war and terrorism, a declaration of neutrality, an act of rebellion to the ego, where one stands alone prevented to feel anything else beyond his own finitude.
Nothing would be more painful than not suffering anymore, dropping the burden of sensations, withdrawing from living and bonding. In the lyricism of the agony of mind, in the longing for a break in the inner solitude, what is more ambiguous than the desire to feel others? When confronted with others, personal pleasure as much as personal pain become absolute and universal. What remains is the love for horror and the horror of love.”

— statement by the publisher