Gaia Pierobon

Radio Maria is a photographic documentation exploring the intertwining of local practices, traditional gender roles and stereotyping in shaping identity formation and, more specifically, influencing the physicality of teenagehood. This auto-ethnographic project, captured over the course of a month on the Island of Lipari in Southern Italy, aims to depict the bittersweet nature of identity formation. On one side, on the surface of the body, the sweet memories of summer holidays, the comforting sound of church bells and the familiar sensations of growth. On the other side, at the core, the rawness and naiveness of youth and the sour adaption to fixed social patterns, the imitation of adults, the accommodation to cultural and religious conventions, social expectations and the role of sports environments in informing physical gestures and behaviours.