homo licanthropus*
Fig. #01-02. Partial showcase from the visual essay about La Selva, a photographic investigation of the wild woodland at night — Talla, 2022.
“Homo Licanthropus: Cultural Mapping Of Metamorphosis At The Border Between Human & Lupoid” is an ongoing research project that investigates the physical and cultural relationship existing between human beings and the canine species. In particular, it develops around the theme of 'Lycanthropy', an obscure and yet contemporary behavioral model, defined as a violent attitude towards both our own species and others — a form of aggression, rape, hunting, horror, manipulation and promiscuity (Eisler, 1951). The project first started in July 2022 during Neutopica, an art residency I was selected to participate among the dark forests near Talla, in Italy.
Is it the wolf that manifests itself to and into humans? Or is it humans who manifests theirself to and into the wolf?
Fig. #03-05. Shots of the public installation outside of the rural VIlla, open for the visitors of Neutopica 2022. The platform was printed using Space Caviar’s “Exhibition Print Format”, developed as a low-impact open source tool.
The visual material that I have gathered to support this narrative ranges from engravings of the She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus by Justus Van Egmont (1650), to metamorphic transpositions from the last century such as The Wolf Man by George Waggner (1941) or Violence Jack by Go Nagai (1978), with the intention of presenting a new account of this profound inter-relationship between the two species, as unprecedented as it is complex and contradictory. The product of this work culminated in a nocturnal lecture, addressed to all the participants of Neutopica art residency, which was later publicly displayed to visitors through a temporary installation located outside the walls of the Villa.
Fig. #06. The ongoing research as displayed during ArtVerona 2022 Edition, with a quote from Charles Darwin about human-animal relationships.