artist monica bonvicini shares a message of hope during coronavirus lockdown

artists share messages of hope: as the population of italy, and many other parts of the world, continue to endure lockdown conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, designboom — whose headquarters is in milan — has reached out to artists to share messages of hope with our readers worldwide. 

dedications have been kindly contributed to us by olafur eliasson, david shrigley, julian charrière, and doug aitken. now, italian artist monica bonvicini shares a photographic documentation of family houses around the italian town of brescia, where she grew up — one of italy’s hardest-hit areas. the 2019 video documents globalization, gentrification and how things change, exploring how the façades of family-houses can display history, economy, and personal identity. 

monica bonvicini shares a message of hope: ‘they say there is no place like home. and indeed most memories are related to the place you grew up. the identity anchored to an idea of home, as a concept, a presence to describe feelings, needs, dreams and ambitions. a place often rendered in movies, literature, economy as a house, a neighborhood, a city.

‘italian homes’ from 2019 is a photographic documentation of family houses in lombardy, precisely around brescia, where I grew up.

built at the end of the 60s, beginning of the 70s for what was at the time the ‘traditional’ italian family, the depicted houses differ from the each other only in how they have being changed by their inhabitants. once rigorously identical in all their parts, the new diversity of façades and the DIY aesthetics contradict the basic idea of the social claim of this architecture, which should create the same living conditions for homogeneous social groups.

though everyone is glad now to have a roof on their own and a garden to attend, nobody wants to stay home for ever, not even for days or weeks or months. I am so impressed by the strength and optimism of my fellows in the lombardy, and as hard as it has been I believe in the power of changes and self-empowerment as limited the possibilities may seem today.

remember: nothing stays as it is. so do not forget who you are, who you want to be and what dreams you are dreaming. tell your own story. in your own words. and make the difference.’