Declaration of Identity

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All the nations of the world – an installation / symbolic action by Teri Volini

It is a project of union, the premise for a different, freer and more constructive approach to the world and to relations between the peoples who inhabit it, in which the common denominator is at last peace-making in justice. The DECLARATION OF IDENTITY not only corrects and wards off any temptation of that castrating, separating nationalism which still does so much damage, but also drives us to understand and accept the concept of ONENESS, the sense of UNION among all beings, whose realisation can no longer wait.

DECLARATION OF IDENTITY: all the nations of the world

A project by Teri Volini, painter, performer and worker for peace.

The Work consists of installing, in a large indoor and/or outdoor space, 200 identity cards, each 50 x 70 cm, along a path of about 200 metres or in another arrangement.

It is the artist’s own identity card, reproduced and multiplied by the number of officially recognised nations in the world, plus some others not yet recognised for various – often very dramatic – reasons, for which the Symbolic Action carried out with the Work represents a utopia and, even more, a hope of recognition and above all of overcoming today’s painful conflicts.

The other important operation carried out by the artist is emphasis, obtained by greatly enlarging the original identity card to a size of 70 x 50 cm.

Beyond any hint of narcissism or personal exhibitionism, these choices are strictly functional to the artist’s communicative aim, which is achieved more effectively thanks to this unusual size, to which the eye is not accustomed (identity cards being small).

Besides giving the Work maximum visibility, the large size prompts attention and reflection through the curiosity and astonishment it arouses, which are therefore not ends in themselves.

The uniformity and similarity of the identity cards is only apparent: on closer inspection – symbolising the need for less superficiality in observing the things of life – the visitor finds the key.

In the “citizenship” field, Teri – who was born in Italy – made a transformation and an integration: she left her “real” Italian citizenship on only one of her identity cards, and on the others wrote – strictly in person and by hand – all the different nationalities.

The very act of writing, a training that lasted several days, was carried out consciously, activating a powerful energy of peace-making for each of the nations named.

Identifying with the different nationalities, the Artist embraces them all, declaring herself – and symbolically becoming – in turn: Albanian, Afghan, Algerian, Arab, Burundian, Cambodian, Chinese, Italian, Turkish, Nicaraguan, French, Lebanese, Malaysian, Nigerian, Portuguese, American, Tunisian…. and also Kurdish, Palestinian, Basque, Irish, Tibetan, Native American, etc.

This Symbolic Action could much more simply have been replaced by a declaration of solidarity, but to the Artist this did not seem enough.

Nor was a declaration of statelessness enough for her (being – or declaring oneself – without citizenship), since she felt it necessary to make a constructive, active act, not merely a cancellation, thus proposing an evolution in the way of facing problems too: to build new worlds it is more useful to seek, choose and affirm belonging than to deny it.

At this point it is clear that this is a powerful message of peace and union between peoples since – having entered an identity crisis voluntarily and consciously – Teri Volini emerges from it happily, in a perfect fusion with all nationalities, official and unofficial, determinedly yet with great respect acquiring the status of honorary citizen of the world.

Clarification

– Feeling a citizen of the world, belonging to all nations, does not in the least exclude consideration of differences or respect for history and for different cultures; on the contrary – thanks to greater awareness – it stimulates the desire for knowledge and favours appreciation of the customs of every people; it stresses our common belonging to universal humanity rather than the reasons for conflict, misunderstanding and separation… The Work prompts fundamental reflections on who we are and where we are going: thoughts that are anything but idle, in the dramatic historical times – times of urgent change – in which we live.

– Taking on the citizenship of countries fighting for the right to their own identity and autonomy does not mean supporting armed struggle, since the ultimate aim of this Work is awareness of peace as an absolute value and the wish for a swift resolution of conflicts in justice and respect for Humanity.

The video – brief description

An integral and unpublished part of the exhibition is a video, in which the declaration becomes direct… It is the artist’s own lips that speak what has been set out above, monotonously declining all 200 nationalities taken on by the artist.

The video is multiple – there are at least four – to be placed at intervals in different parts of the exhibition space, ideally in different rooms. The videos, on continuous loop, start a short time apart, so as to reiterate the declaration continuously and make it strike – like an estranging echo – the ears and attention of visitors…

Teri Volini – Delta Centre for Art and Culture – terivolini.art@gmail.com