Graduate Spotlight with Valeria Rocca
Our mission at A·R·T is all about paying it forward to both artists and charities, and supporting the rising stars is something we're especially passionate about. We spoke to Valeria Rocca to find out more about her process, inspiration and motivation behind her work.
Tell us more about your aesthetic and style of illustration?
My practice has always been strongly influenced by my childhood, the stories I loved as a child, and the blurred memories of a life immersed in nature. I grew up in the countryside and spent my summers in the mountains, I have always been deeply attached to nature and I have always been committed to respect and appreciate it. Nature is my idea of beauty, and the only way to represent nature is for me to make a synthesis of its organic wholes. The simplest, the better.
Graduating this year, as class of 2020, must have been challenging. How have you found strength and resilience?
It was a shame I couldn't really finish my course physically, but I know we are all in this together. It has been a challenging year, but this shouldn't stop us to pursue our dreams.
I have dedicated lots of time reading and thinking about my practice and about the things I would like to achieve in life. My suggestion is to live a day at a time, take care of your mental health, and don’t put yourself down if sometimes you simply don’t feel like doing anything, engage your energy in what you love and stay focus. Life is full of ups and downs and the only way to make it is to accept them and keep walking.
“No rain, no flowers” I always say.
xYour book "Hush of Eve" poignantly draws inspiration from Lockdown experiences, can you tell us more about the narrative?
This book explores the dynamics and concept of the Garden of Eden from Eve’s perspective. During the months of lockdown, I felt sympathy for this woman, in her solitude, in her confinement in a garden, in her desire to escape, to go out and experience the world and welcome the new and unknown. I began to imagine and collect her thoughts, her desires, and her perplexities. I began to write as if it were a personal diary of what it feels like to be Eve, to be trapped in a space you feel you don't belong.In a more picturesque way, the story represents the feeling of when you are a teenager and you can’t wait to become an adult to get your freedom, and when that time eventually comes, You desire to regain that carefree feeling you had as a child, but suddenly you can’t.
But the story is also an invitation to explore your limits no matter what’s on the other side, don’t be scared of jumping in the world, don’t be scared to travel and lose yourself, eventually you’ll find your way.
I quote from the intro of this publication:
“An attempt, to collect and tell the introspective thoughts of a fragile human being, her desire to find that unique and unrepeatable dimension that each of us is called upon to find.”
The outcome of this project is precisely to witness the loneliness of the individual who is projected into the modern world and the loss of the human natural state. to reflect how artificial we became, let’s not forget nature is a pillar of our existence and there must always be a dialogue between us and her.
What would be your dream project? Or a place for your work to be showcased?
I am not sure yet where my place in the world is, I know I would like to be part of the communication Industry, expose my work and my creativity to a bigger audience, contributing to delivering messages and stories in meaningful ways, but the medium is still unknown to me, it’s a working in progress.
