OF PHANTOM LIMBS & REJECTED CITRONS

Excerpt from "The brightest shadows of hidden memories: Expanding histories, rethinking narratives. A conversation between Itamar Gov and Caterina Taurelli Salimbeni"

CTS: Your interdisciplinary work is a vast inquiry into memory and history. It is as if you implicitly ask us that we look at it and be part of this investigation, stimulating an awakening of consciousness. There is a sort of archeological approach towards history in the search for trauma that has led to oblivion, where, to a certain extent, the remains could be interpreted as traces, clues to this research. I would like to start our conversation with the poem Epitaph written by Bertolt Brecht in memory of Rosa Luxemburg. You made a work on her – A Garden for Rosa (2021) – in which you collected the flowers she gathered during her imprisonment in Berlin and planted them on the banks of the river into which her body was thrown by the policemen. "And now red Rosa has disappeared, / Where she lies nobody knows. / To the poor the truth she taught / The rich hunted and out of this world she was brought. " To me, this is very emblematic of a deep search for truth, which you carry out as a process of excavation, of pulling what is precious out of the ordinary. Could you tell me about your practice and how you started approaching it?

IG: Thank you for this introduction. It’s a great beginning for our conversation, and it really brings together many different elements that I am excited about. I like your point about archeology and holding on to traces in search of the bigger picture. My projects usually begin with identifying a small detail that I find interesting, imagining where it can lead me, and digging carefully around it without knowing what to expect.