FRANCESCA SIMONITE
Petunia Vine, high resolution print on vinyl, dimensions vary, 2023
In Petunia Vine, I combined cut 35mm photographs from my archive with petunias taken from my garden and rephotographed them together digitally. The image was manipulated and repeated in photoshop to create an imagined landscape. In the process of re-photographing a two dimensional image of shadows along with a real flower from my backyard, I was able to explore how photography plays a role in my own reality and memory. The resulting image reveals new depth, which provides a sense of calm for the patients and staff at Water Street Health Center.
Daisy Pom Dream, high resolution print on vinyl, dimensions vary, 2023
In Daisy Pom Dream, I combine imagined cut out flowers, abstract shapes and a daisy pom to create a dreamlike landscape. Then I rephotographed the collaged pieces and flowers together digitally using Photoshop to manipulate the size, repeat the imagery and introduce color into the background. The imagined flowers and abstract shapes of clouds and leaves were cut out from 35mm photographs taken from my archive and the daisy pom flower came from a bouquet given to me after suffering a pregnancy loss. Creating these dreamlike landscapes served as a distraction and a form of healing for me. My hope is that the artwork can do the same for patients and staff at Water Street Health Center empowering them to dream and heal.
Floating Phlox, high resolution print on vinyl, dimensions vary, 2023
In Floating Phlox, I combined cut 35mm photographs of flowers from my archive with phlox from my garden. I then collaged, stacked and rephotographed them together digitally using Photoshop to repeat the imagery, manipulate the size and introduce color into the background. I believe new meaning, information and life can be found in reusing, recycling and repurposing my archive of photographs in this way. By taking otherwise discarded images and combining them with flowers, I have found infinite ways of seeing, remembering and dreaming.
Tulip Dance, high resolution print on vinyl, dimensions vary, 2023
In Tulip Dance, I repurpose my 35mm photograph of a rocky landscape into an imagined tulip, arranging it with another cut image of a flower and a petunia from my garden. I then rephotographed the arrangement together digitally using Photoshop to manipulate the size, repeat the imagery and introduce calming colors into the background. My hope is that these imagined landscapes contribute to the caring environment at Water Street Health Center. I believe strongly that art has the power to help uplift, soothe and heal.
Why Water Street?
As an artist and educator, I align strongly with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s commitment to help and educate others. I feel extremely honored to have created artworks that contribute to enhancing the Water Street Health Center’s environment. To have my artwork in an inclusive health care space that creates a safe environment for all people regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, income, insurance, race or immigration status is extremely important to me. I am a passionate advocate of women’s rights as a result of my personal experience as a victim of sexual assault and rape. The murals I created for Water Street were made right after I suffered a pregnancy loss and the flowers used in the artwork were taken from my garden and bouquets that were given to me from people in my support system during that time. This project has been a vehicle for personal healing and my hope is that it can do the same for the patients and staff at Water Street Health Center. I strongly believe that all of the artwork within Water Street Health Center will help patients and staff distract from fears, anxieties and worries. Having my artwork in Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's Water Street Health Center has given me the opportunity to use my passion for art as a way to heal personally, while at the same time allowing me to contribute to and learn from my community. I am truly grateful to be a part of this project.
More about the artist:
Growing up in a family of photographers caused me to question what photography actually is and how it influences the way I understand my own experiences and memories. I believe that language works in a similar way as photography, informing how I remember and forget moments in time. In an attempt to explore the subjectivity and reality of the visual image and the written word, I manipulate personal 35mm snapshots and written memories accumulated over time. I intuitively bend and shape pieces of aluminum with adhesive vinyl prints of my photographs on them, transforming the two dimensional image into a three dimensional object. This object reveals new meaning and information which is otherwise hidden in the original two dimensional image. Thinking of myself as a camera, I am interested in seeing what happens when I physically alter the photographic image and my own words. I question whether the act of cutting, dissecting and rearranging my personal archive of photographs and text makes these moments more true to my original experiences, or just as false as a single frame, print or word.
