What is the value of art today, if not to show the Real — brutal and abject? What is the value of the viewer today, if not to read art through its subtexts, its raw and violent concepts? What is splendour, if all one grasps in art is the abjection of an extreme act?

Not only perfect bodies, canonical to classical values, or Renaissance faces: there is a need for humanity, for aesthetically reflecting on the aspects of reality we inhabit — such as death or sex. The body does not need to be represented through the beautiful appearance of its forms, but through what threatens its integrity. Penetrations, dismemberments, dissections, extensions. Reality disrupts the art world — and this is therefore fundamental, because what emerges is a place where the organic and the inorganic, the natural and the artificial, the human and the machine... meet.

My artistic gesture aims to be a clear example of this call, whose value is based on the representation of that slice of the world still considered taboo. What is CAM4.com? Many will know it, but it is worth explaining in order to restore a value that is not immediately apparent. The pornographic site appears as a hive of screens connected directly to the webcams of anyone who uses it, and each of these cams broadcasts in real time what happens in front of the lens. The performers — as the subjects are called — of each live cam can use the recording in the most varied ways: masturbation and penetration are the most recurring themes, but sometimes one can find people sleeping, reading, in the kitchen, at a desk, or in the bathroom doing their make-up. They are people. I underline this.

It is not honest to question whether this slice of online life is more or less right or wrong — we are talking about a glimpse of reality, and as I said, reality has never been flowery and fragrant... at least not only. Reality is also abject, raw, violent, naked, disgusting, traumatic — and even more so when it belongs to the sphere of the unknown, of the fear of difference. If by definition what is unknown causes fear, then art can enter the scene — with its symbolic aura, capable of sensitising and shaking souls.

With cam4shots I only ask you to accept the challenge of freeing your mind from the prisons of prejudice, because to grasp splendour it is enough to broaden your gaze and change your perception of what surrounds you. Try to trust.

It disappears slowly is a photographic research project developed between 2019 and 2021 and published in 2021. The book combines photographs, narrative texts by Naomi Giudice, writings by the portrayed subjects, and an afterword by curator Mistura Allison. The project reflects on stigma, censorship, identity, and the pressure of social conformity in contemporary society. Through intimate collaborations with the people portrayed, the work explores themes such as visibility, freedom, technology, and the need for collective understanding. Alongside the book, the multimedia website itdisappearsslowly.com was created by Chiara Lombardi, Daniele Polacco, and Simona Pastore to make the project accessible through a digital experience.