5 June 1994 Corpus dominae/ni

It is like returning to the place of the first gift, to the space of the word that becomes an expression of reality by creating places of encounter and consensus. It is like listening to a necessity that arises from gratitude toward the one who brought me into the world. It is like creating emptiness in order to feel what continues to give.

Generosity from the Greek ghignestai “to be born”.

In the pilgrimage of my reflections, the choice to be present—which is a desire to disappoint gender and role stereotypes—allows me to interweave the multiplicities of the various aspects of the city’s fabric.

This experience, perceivable as an act of feeling extended outward, makes the work visible through cooperation, when in a continuous unfolding, distance embraces the infinite both within and beyond me.

Thus flies a tablecloth, container of emotions, on a lawn in Parco Sempione, for a “breakfast on the grass” with women without a fixed abode.

This exhibition gives depth to the gesture/gift of childhood photographs requested from some women in the female section of San Vittore prison during my visits.

The photos, displayed inside the “Casina” built with Antonella Ortelli, Carlo Vendrami, and Aldo Rocco, were presented in 1992 at “Careof” and in the prison’s open-air zone.

What continues to be decisive in discovering the sense of self and one’s own needs: the encounter with Carla Lonzi in 1971, the year she welcomed me into the small group of Rivolta Femminile, the support I found in readings about women pilgrims and founders of monasteries during and in the first centuries A.D., and all that was born from my freedom.

Silvia Truppi

The exhibition includes the screening of the video “Milano, maggio 1994 sezione femminile, ricovero notturno comunale di viale Ortles” by Adriana Monti, in collaboration with Silvia Truppi, Emanuela Pacilli, Aldo Rocco, and the women of the shelter.

The video will be presented on June 23, 1994, at Viale Ortles no. 69 in Milan.