JOANA VASCONCELOS
I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR
PIAZZA MIGNANELLI, ROME, ITALY
18 JANUARY – 31 MAY 2026
Joana Vasconcelos makes use of dozens of mirrors—with richly decorated frames, designed by the artist overlapping, like scales, to build a monumental and surprising Venetian mask. The public is invited to look through the Gulliver-like mask, from the inside or from the outside, but without ever losing sight of one's own image reflected over the many mirrors that form the mask.
The title I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR is taken from the homonymous song, written by Lou Reed and interpreted by the Velvet Underground & Nico, whose promise is to reflect, like a mirror, the true "self". We are also in the field of "The Mirror", by Machado de Assis; or in the reflected image of the poem "I Took Off the Mask and Looked in the Mirror", by Fernando Pessoa, one of the masters of the use of masks; or, in addition, in the field of Jung's analytical psychology, more concretely the process of individuation that drives each person to their individuality and totality, and the conciliation between the collective and personal unconsciousness brought to consciousness.