Careof presents “Caro amore” (“Dear Love”) by Nicoletta Grillo, on display in Milan from 1 March to 19 March 2022.

“Dear love, maybe we could live a love stripped from any ownership?”
The sentence that inspired the title of the exhibition curated by Marta Cereda, Alessio D'Ellena, and Diego Mayon can be found in a notebook belonging to Marisa Licini, the artist’s mother. A box also held around forty film roll negatives and a thousand photographs, carefully sorted by year, place, and subject. These photographs were shot at the end of the 1970s and show moments of private life, as well as protests for women’s rights, but also houses, public squares, faces, and bodies.

Nicoletta Grillo found these pictures after her mother passed away. They allowed her to discover her personal history and gain a better understanding of collective history: through a rereading and reworking of the photographs, “Caro amore” is a new way to look at a young girl’s daily life during the Seventies, at her relationships and their connection to the political issues of the time, from protests for rights and abortion law to the discovery of freedom and the affirmation of one’s identity. Far from being outdated, these fragments, images, and words resonate by bringing together multiple people: protesters, friends, lovers, and the public. For the artist, this diversity is at the center of any relationship, the starting point for a reflection not only on women’s situation but on humanity as a whole. 

The project has also been adapted into a book published by Boîte Editions under the title “Noi”.
“Noi" is a photobook which reveals the confident look of a generation of women who would do anything to change, as well as the intimate gaze of she who, having only just turned twenty, was trying to find her own identity in shared ideals, but also the private curiosity of another woman whose eyes, searching through a box found hidden at home, discovered intertwined lives.