So Heartbreaking

57 fiber-based silver prints, 12.6 cm x 17.7 cm

How is a dramatic news event like the Notre Dame fire perceived and consumed through social media? Is there empathy behind one’s online participation and commitment to the pain of others? Is content shaped by mechanisms of sharing? How do we negotiate private and public sphere, privacy, freedom, comfort and intimacy in the social network environment? Can this sharing practice produce violence or is it violent itself?
SO HEARTBREAKING is a comment to the ephemeral image that claims to contain an important message, shared to stay 24 hours and then be forgotten.
Each Story related to the Notre Dame fire (15 April 2019) and shared by the artist’s followers has been “analogized” by the direct impression on photosensitive paper of a smartphone screen. Every user has been asked for consent before appropriating the content; when it has not been given, the print is displayed face-down.
This way, the images are saved from planned destruction and elevated to historical documents, bringing broken spires and hearts in a context that gives them the privilege of materiality.