Naima Morelli

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Tag "journalism"

1

I love the end of the year so much. Looking back and taking stock of what worked and what didn’t, because acknowledging that even what apparently didn’t worked is the seed for something even bigger to happen. And also, recognizing that nothing is ever wasted, and everything will converge eventually, because it’s all you, all one person is one universe following his own personal trail of crumbs.

In the past few months I haven’t posted on the blog my regular rants/reflections on my journey through life. This is because I realized that instead of being focused on the present and what was at hand, I was rehearsing the “narrative of my life” a little too often. Too much of looking back and planning ahead, instead of sitting down, spot the priorities and get down to them. Which resulted a dispersive mindset and lazy habits. And now that is the right time to reflect, look back and appreciate, it just feels so much better. A few lessons have unfolded. And while of course everything is unfolding all the time, I feel that right now I can see a motif appearing, whereas in the past few months it was more the phase where everything was colliding before taking a recognizable form.

Enough with vagueness! Let’s get down to the specifics; one thing I learned this is that when you ask your friends for feedback in a particular area of your life they know you well for, they will always tell you that “in the past you were so much better at this.” Of course you know that this is not true. There were movements where you showed up with your higher self in that sector. One particularly focused training session, a period where you were really pushing with work, another week where you realized a set of very good comic book pages. Growth is never even. You’ll have moments where you are quietly learning in some areas and it doesn’t show, and moments where it finally come up. It’s a gift to have friends to keep you in check, but most importantly you have to regularly practice, day in day out.

On the edge of 2017 I can see how all the expressions of my being are starting to come together, and hopefully in 2018 they will find a way to coexist harmoniously as an even flow. Ok, let’s be more specific. I guess I’ll start by looking at the year through the lens of my different practices.

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These days life is white-hot, red-hot, glowing, incandescent. This excitement runs all over my body and my mind. It nourishes my spirit. Sometime I feel like those sparkling sticks kids hold in their hands on the first of the year. I feel empowered and harmonious. When I lose balance, I’m able to catch myself and correct course; if I happen to linger there, I try to deal with it with a stoic attitude, meaning, why let yourself be bother by something you can’t change? Or else, I try to convert the energy of rage or indignation into good energy, in the form of animated talks or laughs with friends.

This good energy runs through me while I’m heading towards the coffee shops I work at every morning. This is what was Tiffany for Holly Golightly; except that here they serve real breakfasts. I’m so revitalized getting out of the house in the fresh morning here, coasting the Aurealian walls, walking down the sunlit market of the working-class neighbourhood of Via Del Pigneto, watching kids from many different ethnicities going to school. The hurried or cheerful attitude of the mothers reminds me to the one of my own mother. I recall how was it to go to that terrible and yet so fundamental place which was school. And yet, schoolkids remind me how important is to feel to be on a learning path, and having buddies to share that experience with. I treasure that sensation that I experience elsewhere, walk in the coffee shop, order a cappuccino, and sit to do my work, an independent, solitary but beautiful adventure. Something that I have proudly built from scratches.

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Immagini 031
“Actually, this is a really good idea”, said my dentist throwing his blood-drenched gloves in the bin. He had just pulled out my wisdom tooth, making me more sore and more wise – pain is supposed to be the highway to wisdom after all, isn’t it? The dentist wholeheartedly approved of my habitual taking July and August away from my Rome life. That time wouldn’t be exactly “off”. I would in fact catch up on project that need breadth and space, dedicate to articles that I never have time to pitch, books that I never have the peace of mind to sit and read. Most importantly, I’d refine what I have learned in the previous months.

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book
I’m a big fan of reading how writers organize their research and how they put their books together. I figured it would be interesting to detail the way I’m working at my new book on young artists in Singapore. In this post I’ll walk you through the first few stages from the preliminary research to the first draft.

First phase: preliminary research.  I read articles about Singapore art scene and books on Singapore urbanism, political and economical situation. I interviewed Lee Wen when he was in Rome, I met up with Italian artists who went to Singapore on a residency, and talked to a couple of Singaporean curators visiting Italy, included Paul Khoo. I stayed two weeks in Paris for the Singapour en France event, composed by the Paris Art Fair and the exhibition “Secret Archipelago”. In both case I interviewed artists, curators and gallery owners. Back home, I talked with via skype to other Singaporean artists, mainly for magazine articles. Finally, I went to Milan to visit the exhibition “Bright S’pore” at Primo Marella gallery and saw some works in person.

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artshub4
Uk/Aussie webmagazine ArtsHub has just published my article on community-funded journalism. I feel today is particularly important – and sometimes also fun -for journalist to keep up with the changes in the industry. Besides, after researching for this article I’m almost tempted to give crowdfunding a go!

Here’s the link to the interview

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plant2

For years I’ve considered myself a massimalist.
I’m Italian, I’m Neapolitan. We are baroque people. We are about adding, getting into the abundance of love, life, colours, art, words, food, everything. We don’t throw away stuff. We are sentimental people and everything has a value to us. An old handkerchief can remind us of a particular day, a necklace of a particular person. Objects for us are about suggestions, evocations.

Also, we don’t throw away stuff because “It can always be useful”. We stuff our shops with exotic objects, our wallets with family photos, the windows of our car with praying cards, our bookshelves with books. We are curious people, we are open to change our mind even in the span of a short conversation – in fact more often than not we are also contradictory in our speaking and thinking. I’m guilty of that myself, never getting straight to the point but continuously overlapping levels and levels of thoughts. A common Neapolitan saying is: “A cap’ è na sfoglia ‘e cipolla”, meaning “The head is as layered as an onion”. We might have an opinion about everything, but deep down we question everything.

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blog1

The other day I was reading this interesting interview on Design Sponge to business owner Jess Lively. Jess pointed out that there are four questions everyone should ask themselves before starting a business, or while running it. These question have subconsciously run into my mind all the time, but now I really wanted to put them “on paper”. The answer we give to these questions is ultimately what makes you keep going through a bad day and what can probably stop you making things half heartedly. It is a powerful reminder to do what you can with what you have and not be scared to figure things out along the way. Here my answers; I’m sure many arts writers and curators can relate to.

1. Why are you starting this business?

Because I love writing and connecting with people. What motivates me is a huge curiosity about the world and the human beings inhabiting it. I enjoy hearing people’s stories and retell them through my own writing. I’m usually enriched and energized by a good conversation, and at times also moved.  As a journalist and interviewer I always bear in mind the motto: “La vita è l’arte dell’incontro” (Life is the art of the encounter).

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routine1
I have always been obsessed with plans for the day and routines. At the same time I know that I can’t stick to a particular routine for more than one month. That’s mainly because I had a double-base this year, Rome and Sorrento, so I need to continuously review my routine plan.
In Rome it’s harder to have a routine, since there are things to do all the time and life is quite hectic and unpredictable.
On the other hand, when I’m in Sorrento, I get back to my antisocial behaviour, and it’s much easier to stick to a routine and be productive. I have been away from Rome for almost a month now, so I had all the time I needed to establish a routine that really works for me and makes me happy. Here how it went so far:

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postit

What’s up with your book?
Well, I just overcome the worst step of them all: ranking all the post-its I’ve made.
In the beginning writing all the information about Indonesian contemporary art on the post it notes sounded good.
I was reading essays, catalogues, articles and stuff about the topic and I would be able to write down the information I’ve just learned and all the references directly on the post its.Then I stuck them on the wall and that was that.
Sweet. And practical too.
After a while it became a mess, sort of yellow geographic map on the white sea of my wall. To find a single information was hell.
Yeah, it was the Post-it Pandemonium.

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