(Conceived as an experimental offshoot and a site of research and material exploration, I sospiri di Diana seeks to reanimate a nearly forgotten dimension of Aeolian heritage by reintroducing the fisherwomen who once navigated the volcanic waters of the archipelago. Drawing on the anthropological research of Macrina Marilena Maffei, the project blends portraiture, metaphorical imagery, and a contemporary gaze to illuminate women who, until the early 20th century, stepped beyond prescribed domestic roles to sustain their families and communities. They read winds and stars, drifted into night seas, and intertwined sea and land through their labor - yet despite their centrality, their presence was gradually erased from the official narrative, relegated to the margins of folklore out of fear that acknowledging their skill would unsettle a male-dominated maritime identity. Today, only fragments remain: personal memories, oral accounts, and the pride carried by descendants. The work therefore positions itself as an act of reclamation, rejoining a historical thread at risk of rupture.

The use of cyanotype becomes a material extension of the environment in which these women lived and labored. As a process shaped by light, water, and mineral reaction, cyanotype mirrors the elemental forces that defined the Aeolian Islands - winds read for navigation, volcanic stone underfoot, and the constant dialogue between sea and sky. Its surface retains the marks of exposure, duration, and contact, echoing the embodied knowledge through which the fisherwomen understood their world. The medium’s sensitivity to natural conditions resonates with the fragility of their fading story: a narrative once vivid, then gradually worn down, yet still capable of re-emerging through attentive looking. In this way, cyanotype operates as a means of re-entering the physical and sensorial world the fisherwomen inhabited, and of restoring their presence through a process that is itself elemental, tactile, and quietly resistant to disappearance.)

Stromboli, 2024 — ongoing