Notes for a feminist bestiary. Clemen Parrocchetti artist beyond the becoming-animal

Abstract

The contribution intends to focus on some aspects of the current debate between art and animality, starting from the questions raised by feminist artistic practices: the problematic nature of shaping animal image in relation to oneself; the possible definition of the animal as a social and ecological subject; and the processes of antispeciesism involving the world of anthropods and microorganisms. The investigation is developed around the figure of Clemen Parrocchetti, an Italian artist active from the late 1950s to the 2000s, with particular focus on her latest artistic production consisting of unpublished drawings and paintings that, while rooted in her previous feminist path, puts the animal world at the centre. This research, proposed here as a "bestiary", is presented as a collection of data and notes by the artist that, starting from the feminine, reconnect with non-human identities with openings from the symbolic to the biological in a personal vision of the world where connections with artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Carol Rama, Bracha Ettinger and Birgit Jürgenssen can be traced.