The Other Side of Joy

Anna Guadagnini
Submission
May 23, 2022
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“If I am like this for two weeks a month, is that who I am?” This particular sentence immediately captured my attention. I was browsing through a Google search for severe premenstrual syndrome and had just come across a condition called PMDD (Premenstrual-Dysphoric-Disorder). I immediately recognised myself in most of the descriptions of symptoms, in the little information I could find and in the words of other women going through a similar struggle. As I began making sense of what I have been going through, I felt compelled to create a body of work that would capture the fragility of these moments in a way that is also beautiful and poetic, to show that vulnerability can also be a strength, other than a cause of embarrassment and distress. Through a series of self-portraits, conceptual still lifes and drawing directly on my personal experience. This series explores how hormonal shifts can affect women’s mental and physical health.

About
My inspiration comes from a need to express the feelings and ideas that are part of my everyday life as a woman, a mother and the child in me that never fully grew up. I take pictures of what moves me, using my creative process as a way to heal and show the beauty in the constant struggles we face in our lives as human beings. The work I produce is mainly portraiture. The intimate approach and autobiographical nature of my practice often result in self-portraits. My photographs present a strong implied narrative, an in-between moment, a small piece of a larger story. I hope the viewer will complete the story based on their own life experience, using their imagination. The world we see is full of colours, and so are my photographs. I use colour to convey emotions. I plan my images and carefully research the concepts behind the work, but when the time comes, I also want to let the creative flow lead me to the unexpected. After graduating with a BA in Fine Art at the Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork (Ireland), I moved to London, where I set up a photography studio and began working as a commercial photographer while also teaching art classes and art clubs for children. I currently live and work in London.
Anna Guadagnini
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