LA CASA DELLE DONNE
2019
“La Casa Delle Donne” is a multi-channel video installation.
This video was recorded in a 17th-century girls’ prison near the American Academy in Rome, where I was a Visiting Artist.
Originally a “female reformatory,” it is now the seat of “La Casa International Delle Donne” (the National Feminist Institute) of Italy.
Young women and girls were housed in small, white, mostly windowless cells and ‘remediated’ through sewing and embroidery.
Thinking about women and family and secrets, about silencing, freedom, restrictions, and surveillance.
I photographed a friend standing in one of the windowless cells.
“Buon Pastore” is a multi-channel video installation that was recorded in a 17th-century girls’ prison in Rome called “Buon Pastore” (Good Shepherd). Originally a “female reformatory” for pregnant and wayward girls, it is now the seat of “La Casa International Delle Donne” (National Feminist Institute) of Italy. Housed in small, white, mostly windowless cells, the young women and girls were separated into categories - penitent or repentant and remediated through sewing and embroidery.
Sample Clip - 1:03
Full Length Loop - 4:55 Minutes
Performer: Dina Madi