The Distinctions (2019-21)

The Distinctions is a research-based project exploring our understanding and acceptance of novelty through food, color, and daily practices.

It starts from the artist's visit to the Porta Palazzo farmer market in Turin in June 2018 and his discovery of Momordica Charantia: a South American and Asian fruit known as Bitter Gourd, which became a staple in the stalls of the Chinese vendors. The indigenous vegetable is taken as the symbolic embodiment of the foreign as a transient state: what is the 'exotic'? How long does it take for the 'exotic' to become normalized?

Using the photograph of Bitter Gourd as a source for extracting its colors, the artist developed a series of artworks influenced by color perception. Through the interaction between photographic documentation and physical objects, this work delves into the cultural habit of incorporating exoticism into everyday life. It challenges our way of experiencing color and our visual culture's defining standards.

The research project is named after Pierre Bourdieu's book "La distinction: critique sociale du jugement", which addresses the socio-cultural processes of developing taste.

The Distinctions has been initiated in Turin, within the residency studio program at Cripta747, with the help of Alliance Française.