Dirty Laundry (2019), PAR, Via Giulia 103, Rome IT

One day, I visited a dry-cleaning shop on the famous Via Giulia in Rome. The lady running the shop, Silvana, was very friendly. After entrusting her with my precious dress to dry clean, I spontaneously proposed performing in front of her shop. She became curious and asked me to tell her more. By the end of our conversation, she agreed. We arranged to meet after closing time, and then I asked her to share some stories from her experience as a laundress.

She told me a few stories, but one stayed with me. Not long after our chat, I conceptualised and presented a performance inspired by an event that had happened in her shop years earlier.

One day, a woman Silvana had never seen before came in with a white man’s shirt, clearly distraught. She asked Silvana if, in her opinion, the red stain at the bottom was lipstick. Silvana immediately understood the situation and told her it wasn’t (though, of course, it was!). The woman left.

The following day, a man appeared asking if a woman had come by the day before with a white man’s shirt. In this encounter too, Silvana quickly grasped the situation and replied affirmatively. The man asked whether Silvana had confirmed the woman’s suspicion. Silvana said yes - even though it had not been so - siding with the woman who had clearly been cheated on. The man left with a heavy heart.

The lipstick mark was a clear sign of infidelity, carrying the exposed pain of different wounds: the wife’s, the lover’s, and also the man’s, who was ignoring his own feelings and choosing to escape rather than face them.

To me, the repeated kisses that left the red stain became more than just a mark, they became a wound. A symbol of love turned into a sign of pain.

Photo 1, 4, 6, 9, 15 Giulia Mattera

Photo 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14 Fabrizia Migliarotti

Photo 3, 11 Michela Ramadori

Photo 12, 13 Ilaria Paccini