Nestled in the heart of the art district of Palermo, Rosana Simonassi creates her artwork from her second-story apartment.
“It’s interesting, but…amazing.”
Over her cup of matte tea, she used those to words to begin her description of the Buenos Aires art scene as friendly, great, and an essential aspect of the culture. It seems hidden, but yet it is visible in every aspect of the city from the politically-driven, territorial street art to the design on the boots of the ranch gauchos we had met earlier on that Tuesday.
I tuned in and out of her description because I was continuing to ponder over what was in my hands.
“A Series of A Thousand Deaths” was the title of a small booklet she handed us as we sat down in the living area of her apartment. Before I even saw the title or realized what was handed to me, I was striked by the blunt image on the front cover of a dead woman in the middle of a field.
As she spoke about her works over the honking and bustle of the streets outside her window, I was in deep thought over the meaning of these images.
From page to page, a dead woman was lying in the middle of something–from the side of a road in her hometown to the rooftop of her apartment building. The images had a cool tone and conveyed a sense of abandonment and disparity.
I finally asked why and in that moment is when she let us all see who she is as an artist.
The series was inspired by the death of her mother, which was two months before the birth of her first child. She was in a confused space, felt alone, and simultaneously, constantly presented with glamorized and over-sexualized images of woman in the media. Her series presents her sorrow, but also a social message of femininity.
I knew there was more behind the scenes, it was deep, and my respect for art became deeper than before.