Paola Michela Mineo is a visual artist who lives and works between Pietrasanta (Lucca) and Milan. Graduated in Architecture between the Polytechnic of Milan and that of Athens during the years of study she began to elaborate “a new sculptural language, fragmentary but alive, dynamic and empathetic” (G. L.).
She has moved the mean of human cast from a simple anatomical copy tool to a life portrait of personal and relational identities. The theme of the archaeological fragment comes from Greek years, remaining the main features of an interdisciplinary language that ranging from performance art to photography, from the pure sculpture to installations. Over the years he has exhibited his work in various Italian Museums, and she is always committed to extracting beauty from the dark social realities; she believes they should be known through the empathic and relational channel that her language is able to stimulate. Impronte Sfiorate is her most recognized and complete project, even if it’s born from a never realized project on immigration in Lampedusa, in 2011 : Impronte Sfiorate is the creative result of a long period lived in an experimental prison for new mothers (I.C.A.M.). In this time the artist has built relationships, involved, worked and interacted with educators and mothers, returning in a innovative art exhibition at the Spazio Oberdan in Milan , where the transformation of some of them, from simple prisoners without a social identity to co-stars of contemporary art performance was visible in 5 big installation. The physical interaction of the involved public, was the last relational step of this innovative Paola’s approach, that goes from the artist to the subject/object portrayed, passing from the actors who are around them, going to the final user of the artwork, which is considered more as an empathic device of a history of identity than an aesthetic masterpiece. The relational talent of the artist is best expressed in seeing beauty even where it does not seem to exist: for this reason she is currently working on spreading her artistic approach, teaching it in very different fields.
Statement
I portray fragments of human lives and identity. To succeed it, I fall into the reality of others, simply listening, and their stories become the trace of an action of performing art (in space and time), normally documented through photography, audio or video.
My body play through the touch of my hands, and there I become a sculptor who models a thin fragment of white cast on the body of the people portrayed, allowing them to look at a new point of view of themselves, from the outside of their body.
Pure empathy allows me to bring out their most intimate identity: the process that generates this portrait is very important for me, and I believe that the artwork is the emotion that is generated by mirroring (me in them / them in me / them in their own “double” ). For many years I have been working on this reinterpretation of life cast and today I am still in love with it, even though I experiment a lot of photography. I have always had the talent to see the beauty even in the worst people or situations and that is why I love getting into complex social situations, especially where the identity (social and personal) is extremely compromised: bringing out hidden beauty becomes an exciting challenge as well as an important responsibility.