Sorrento | Naima Morelli

Published! Paura e Delirio a Brest on Surrentum

27-07-2016

France, Italiano, Italy, News, Published

BrestSurrentum2
Among the art pieces I write each month, every now and then I churn out a funny one. This time the Sorrento local magazine Sorrentum was looking for a short write-up about the participation of the miniature sail boat Stella Maris and its team of two to the annual maritime festival of the French city of Brest (the same one of Jean Genet’s “Querelle de Brest”). Half of the team was Capitain Giancarlo Antonetti – a super-chatty sea dog and certifiable nuts – and the other was my brother, who is by far the sternest and most taciturn person I have ever met.

In the article I imagined the two-days long car trip of the two from Italy to France. You can read the piece on the August issue of Sorrentum or, more straightforwardly, below. It is in Italian, but the title can translate as “Fear and Loathing in Brest”

Paura e Delirio a Brest

Prendete un pizzico di Hunter Thompson e frullatelo con una manciata di Jean Genet, e avrete la nostra rappresentanza sorrentina al Festival Internazionale Marittimo di Brest, in Francia. Questo evento tanto atteso dagli amanti della vela accoglie ad ogni sua edizione migliaia di imbarcazioni da tutto il mondo ed è volto far conoscere ai visitatori le diverse culture marittime.

A tenere alta la bandiera sorrentina, anzi, la vela a tarchia, è il comandante Giancarlo Antonetti, l’esuberante fondatore dell’associazione velistica che da sempre si fa promotore di questa antica tradizione in penisola, affiancato in veste straordinaria dal compassato Leandro Morelli, un nome che solo di recente comincia a risuonare nell’ambito nautico, ma che già è noto in alcuni circoli ginnici sorrentini per far sospirare più di una donzella.

Ed ora immaginate questo improbabile duo, il vivace e chiacchierone Giancarlo strizzato in una striminzita minicooper color petrolio con il laconico Leandro, un duo lanciato sotto l’infinita tratta del traforo del Monte Bianco con una piccola feluca pericolosamente legata sul tetto, ed ecco, avrete davanti a voi il girone che Dante aveva lasciato fuori dall’Inferno per premura.

Updates from life: Viva la Mistificazione!

By: Naima Morelli

19-07-2016

English, Essay, Indonesia, Singapore

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.

Reflections on my 2015

By: Naima Morelli

27-12-2015

English, Essay, France, Italy, Singapore

Twenty-fifteen has been an intense year full of cheerfulness, discovery and adventure – I feel I learned so much! For starters I reconquered Rome, which I re-elected as my base (I keep on saying “for the time being”, but truth is, I’m in love with this city). Since I installed in my bedroom in San Lorenzo – the left-leaning, working-class neighborhood of Rome – I felt a new chapter of my life had started.

Published! Becoming Location Independent on ArtsHub

By: Naima Morelli

18-12-2015

Australia, English, Essay, Published, United States

artshub12
When I chose to become a freelance journalist, the possibility of working from everywhere was extremely luring. And I experimented a little with it, especially that couple of years that I was based first in Melbourne, Australia, and then going back and forth between Rome and Sorrento every two weeks. I quickly found out that what I pictured as total freedom, actually required an unusual amount of discipline.

In this piece for ArtsHub I interviewed absolute experts on location independency: writers Shannon O’Donnel of A Little Adrift, Jeannie Mark of Nomadic Chick and artist Veronica Kent. In this sense writing for ArtsHub is fantastic because it gives me the chance to go around and ask questions on matters that I feel pressing. And being a full-time digital nomad is still something I give a lot of thought to.

Here’s the link to the piece

Reflections on my 2014

By: Naima Morelli

30-12-2014

English, Essay, Italy

Twenty-fourteen has been a year of cementing for me. I recovered for my crazy mindset according to which I should have pick a new country to live in every year. These last twelve months have been much quieter, with small scattered events versus the glaring adventures in Indonesia or Australia of the past few years. But after you do your research, there is also the part where the research comes into being, and that’s what happened in 2014. This year was meant to see the harvest.

I’ve been writing for magazines since 2008, and for English magazines since 2012, but this year I feel I took it to a new level, increasing the number of articles published and types of magazines I’m freelancing for. This year I’ve published twenty-one articles in total, five in Italian and sixteen in English, which is a great achievement for me, considering that I have split my time also with other projects. I’m happy to have started a steady collaboration with Trouble Magazine, who is publishing the English version of all my interviews from my Indonesian and Australian reportages.

Photostory: research for the book part II

By: Naima Morelli

25-11-2014

Australia, English, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Photostory, Reportage, Research, Visit

photostory2
Here’s the second part of my photostory from the research for my book about contemporary art in Indonesia. If you miss the first part you can find it here.

Rome, Berlin, Sorrento, Melbourne, Naples, Venice. Since I came back from Indonesia I tried to look for Indonesian art, artists and exhibitions wherever I went – and I met wonderful people in the process. At the same time I faced the challenge to organize all the material from my research and integrate it with new information. For months the arts pages of the Jakarta Post, the Jakarta Globe and Asia Art Pacific became my morning reading. I didn’t know much about how to write a research-based book when I started and I learned so much in the process – in the photo above you can see me experimenting with post-its.
In a few weeks the book will finally be published (want to be updated? Drop a mail to contact[at]naimamorelli.com with the subject line Indonesia Book and I’ll keep you posted). In the meantime here are some pictures from the European and Australian part of my research:

Announcing the release of “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia”

By: Naima Morelli

28-10-2014

English, Indonesia, Italy, News, Reportage

I have been talking about my so-called “Indonesian book” for such a long time. My profile description at Trouble magazine reads: “she’s currently working on a book about contemporary art in Indonesia that will be published in Italy the near future”. Well, the near future is finally here. My book “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia – un’introduzione” will finally be published and presented in Rome during a series of exhibition focused on South-East Asia and Australia called “AU.SIAN”, that I will curated with my collegue Roberto D’Onorio at the gallery Parioli Fotografia.

I look at this book as a step in the process of connecting different cultures via contemporary art and people’s stories around contemporary art. Thus the decision to link this book to the wider program of AU.SIAN. I’ll give you guys all the details of the November/December release pretty soon!

“Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia ” is an introduction to contemporary art in Indonesia and looks at how the cultural, social and political conditions in Indonesia have influenced four generations of artists. Through this book I didn’t just learn about art in Indonesia, but I also reconsidered my idea of contemporary art. I started became more and more aware of the context that surrounds contemporary art. I went around asking questions, rather then just see a show, come home and write my thoughts about it. I still consider myself an art critic, but I don’t want to criticize anymore. I want to understand and let people understand what’s behind every human expression. I’m convinced that by giving background coordinates, readers could see beyond the pretty picture. One of the aim of this book is also challenging the outdated western hegemony on contemporary art, a point of view that is still prevalent in Italy.

My Daily Routine #2: Summer

By: Naima Morelli

29-07-2014

English, Essay, Italy

red2

When people ask me about my routine, what I can say is that it is constantly changing. After an intense July, I’m finally back in uneventful Sorrento, Italy, and I couldn’t be happier about it. In sultry Rome I was super-busy setting up the screening of Indonesian video art, so I wasn’t really able to keep a routine, which was good. In fact, my modus operandi entails intense and exciting weeks, followed by weeks of just concentrating getting the “offstage” work done. Which means a solid 8 hours a day. Then I grow restless and I leave for the next adventure. I also like the idea that thanks to the internet you can work remotely to your next mission. There is something inherently powerful in working from a remote costal town in Italy, contacting artists and magazines from all over the world. So that’s how an ideal July-August workday looks like for me (if I manage to retain myself from playing guitar all day)

My monthly routine: a typical day as a writer in Sorrento

By: Naima Morelli

15-05-2014

English, Essay, Italy

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:

Working on my new Melbourne book!

By: Naima Morelli

21-04-2014

Australia, English, Indonesia, News, Research

It’s Easter holidays and instead of camping and picnicking in random green spots in Sorrento, as it’s tradition over here, I’m working on a new book.
This will be a narrative essay about the challenges of being a young artist. The setting is Melbourne, Australia, but the book will be a snapshot of a moment of an artist’s career all over the world.
This book has a lighter tone compared to my Indonesian one (which is now going through the editing process in case you were wondering). With the Indonesian book I had to tackle pretty serious themes, since the country’s history has been pretty turbulent; while younger artists are lured by an often misleading market, established artists have to come to terms with the country’s political and social issues. Years of colonialism, dictatorship and struggles have very deeply influenced the contemporary artists in Indonesia.
Australia didn’t have that on a superficial level. The tragedies concerning Indigenous Australians or the aggressive Australian policies towards migrants – to name just two – don’t really register as their own to young, mostly white, Australians.
The focus of my book will still be contemporary art in relation with its context, but this time I want to be more personal. How to get a living when you have always thought that everything you would have to do in life was art? I heard this question by many of my artist friends and I also asked it to myself more than once.
The Melbournian system and the Australian way have some answers, but they pose also some new challenges. In this book I will give my take on the problem through my experience and the 40 voices of people I’ve interviewed in Australia. I’m interested in showing the good sides of the ecosystem in Melbourne and explaining how that could be beneficial for an artist who is interested in having a career.

Personal art collection: Susan by Joseph Meo

By: Naima Morelli

04-07-2013

Collection, English, Germany, Italy

susan

I found this big collage on canvas hidden behind a bookcase in Joseph Meo’s studio in Massa Lubrense.
It’s an artwork of Joseph Meo’s early production, the date it’s 1986.
With stubborn, laborious persuasion I conviced the artist to give it to me. Now it’s one of the favourite pieces of my personal collection.
Let aside the impressing collage technique, the subject itself is very charming. That rebelious woman in leather jacket has something berlinesque and
reminds me to the Marianne Faithfull of the Broken English period.

Goodnight to the players.

By: Naima Morelli

01-02-2013

English, Indonesia, Italy, News, Uncategorized

limoni

I always sought a day-routine, the only way to get things done, like my graphics novel and, currently, my book about Contemporary Art in Indonesia.
I was very much inspired by this articles on the amazing Brain Pickings website and, of course, I didn’t miss the opportunity of breaking the routine that I made for myself to read it and share, and write this post… Whatever!
I always was the kind of girl making daily schedule to force me doing my work during the day. It started when I was in the High School because I didn’t have a lot of time to draw, between school and homework.
I drew and thinking and building the stories during school time and I realized it after homework.

Naima Morelli

Published! Paura e Delirio a Brest on Surrentum

Updates from life: Viva la Mistificazione!

Reflections on my 2015

Published! Becoming Location Independent on ArtsHub

Reflections on my 2014

Photostory: research for the book part II

Announcing the release of “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia”

My Daily Routine #2: Summer

My monthly routine: a typical day as a writer in Sorrento

Working on my new Melbourne book!

Personal art collection: Susan by Joseph Meo

Goodnight to the players.

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