Happy (2004) Audio installation
Nottingham, Residual: Traces of the Black Body, curated by Christine Eyene, New Art Exchange, March 2015h
London, Serial Attempts, curated by Christine Eyene, News of the World Gallery, February 2013
Ancona, Vertigo of Reality, curated by Gabriele Tinti, Mole Vanvitelliana, February 2012 (background)
Happy is a sound art piece that presents the voice of Happy, a Nigerian girl who lives in Italy recounting all events that left a mark on her skin, in Edo language.
One day my friend Happy showed me a mark on her arm, telling me how she got it – then she showed me another and another. It is said that dark skin preserves scars more, and Happy’s were pretty clear, even though they were from many years ago. There was always a story to tell, behind every scar. The stories were all beautiful to hear, some particularly fascinating because they could only have happened in Africa.
I decided to map Happy’s skin and record her stories. The work began in April 2002, with the first video and photographic mapping of Happy’s body being carried out in 2003. In July 2004 I also had two large nude photographs of her taken, but then I realized that these anatomical tables took away space for the imagination and transformed the viewer into a sort of indiscreet dermatologist. Thus, I decided to only use her voice for the project.
Happy’s stories were recorded in studio in December 2004. Happy speaks in her native language unknown to most, leaving the audience at the mercy of her tone before being able to come close to understanding through the written translation. The audience of this work is forced to fill the void left by the absence of an image with their imagination.
© Cristiano Berti
2024
Cristiano Berti challenges the voyeurism and spectacle that often characterise Western gaze on the black female body. His sound piece Happy (2004) invites the audience to an imaginary mapping of a body which scars are related in Edo, a Nigerian language.
© Christine Eyene
excerpt from «Residual: Traces of the Black Body», Eye on Art, blog, February 6, 2015
The audio installation is accompanied by the written translation of the fourteen stories taken from Happy’s life.
Happy (2004): Audio installation and written text (translation from Edo language)
Audio, 07:30. Edition of 5 + 1 AP
Audio record by Roberto Taufic
Audio editing by Antonio Lucarini
2012
Vertigo of Reality, curated by Gabriele Tinti, with a text by Luigi Fassi, Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona, Italy
2015
Residual: Traces of the Black Body, curated by Christine Eyene, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, United Kingdom
2013
Serial Attempts, curated by Christine Eyene, News of the World Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2015
Eyene, Christine, «Residual: Traces of the Black Body», Eye on Art, blog, February 6
2013
Eyene, Christine, «Serial Attempts: Berti, Ferreira, Gbaguidi», Eye on Art, blog, January 22
Giannangeli, Pierfrancesco, «’Scie di sangue dietro la normalità’. A Londra l’opera di Cristiano Berti, jesino d’adozione», Il Resto del Carlino (Bologna), Cultura e Spettacoli. Il Caffè, CXXVIII, 23: January 27, p. 33
2012
Cristiano Berti. Vertigine del Reale/Vertigo of Reality, exhibition catalogue, Turin: Allemandi (ISBN 978-88-422-2104-3), pp. 47 – 51, 161
Ginesi, Armando, «Cristiano Berti e la vertigine del reale», Whipart.it, March 26
Marzioni, Maira, «Cristiano Berti. Ancona, Mole Vanvitelliana», Exibart (Rome), XI, 78: April – May, p. 66
Morelli, Loretta, [exhibition review] Juliet Art Magazine (Trieste), Spray Italia, XXXII, 158: June, p. 86