#the one that. True stories of women against prejudice.

The #quellache project stems from an invitation I made to women to talk about their story and to answer the question: have they ever attached a label to you? Have you ever been the victim of prejudice? Do you feel criticized by society for your personal life choices? Do you feel deviant from the predominant female stereotype? Have you tried to rebel against all this? And if so, how?

#quellache is an artistic project but at the same time social, cultural and political in the broadest sense, because it speaks of gender stereotypes and prejudices, inner awareness and daily action. It is a project in progress that includes traveling exhibitions, born in March 2018 with a first exhibition in the Municipality of Montecatini Terme with the patronage of the Commission for Equal Opportunities, in which ten portraits of women with their stories were exhibited. In the following months, through other exhibitions, the blog and word of mouth on social media, many women contacted me to be portrayed. Successfully welcomed in the headquarters of the Regional Council of Tuscany, in the Palazzo del Pegaso in Florence, with the patronage of the Commission of Equal Opportunities for Tuscany, where 24 portraits were exhibited, with Carmignano we are at the 5th stage and 25 portraits.

Each work consists of a pictorial part and a narrative part, that is the portrait (oil on canvas, 60x50 cm) and the story of the story with some biographical notes. They are “fast” portraits, just as we often attach “labels” quickly, and they are portraits that, however realistic, are always a partial vision of reality.
The protagonists of the works are real women, very different from each other, "common" but with significant stories: women who somehow society has tried to pre-judge for their way of being, profession, marital status, physical appearance , life choices or age. Awareness is the first step towards inner and social growth, and these women have in common the fact that they are rebels: they are women against prejudice. And above all they are courageous women because it takes courage to tell about oneself, especially in what others may consider "a weak point", and which instead they have been able to transform into a strength.

And the meaning is precisely this: perhaps to be an example to other women who are looking for their way. Recognizing oneself in the stories, not feeling alone, feeling inspired by the example, thinking that "if she did it, I can do it too!". They are not famous women, they are not myths, they are not legends. They are women who live among us and they are extraordinary women. In recent decades, progress has been made in the position of women from the point of view of political rights, social and economic models, but there is still much to be done to achieve equality in the cultural, social and collective imagination. , and one way to do this is to address gender stereotypes.

I hope that these portraits, visual and narrative, can have a double action: inspire rebellion against prejudices and remember how limiting, and often wrong, to attack yet another #quellache label.

I invite you to follow the project on the Facebook and Instagram pages @iosonoquellache.

The invitation to tell you is always valid, and the project is always in progress.

Laura Corre