Undici (2025), PAR PERFORMANCE ART ROME inauguration, Kou Gallery, Rome IT

During the inauguration of PAR PERFORMANCE ART ROME, a platform dedicated to the valorisation of Rome’s cultural heritage through performance art, I presented Undici, a poignant work addressing a tragically contemporary and urgent theme.

The beauty of women has been celebrated by men for millennia, yet in our society it still provokes violence and a possessive desire, revealing a darker, bloodier side. Undici means eleven in Italian, this is the number of women killed by a man between 1st January 1st and 15th April 2025, the day of my performance.

I began my performance by applying makeup while looking at my reflection in a mirror held by my boyfriend. Then, holding a gilded frame, I revealed the made-up side of my face, followed by the other side marked with a red imprint of a blow. While remaining in the frame, I read aloud the names of the women killed in 2025: Eliza, Maria, Johanna, Eleonora, Cinzia, Tilde, Sabrina, Ruslana, Laura, Ilaria, and Sara.

Femicide is the deliberate killing of a woman because of her gender. This performance reflects the two faces of beauty and the complex, sometimes brutal, love it can inspire.

Photo Paola Fatelli exc. 3 & 4 Francesca di Ciaula