ALESSANDRA LETA
Born in Milan, 1997, Alessandra Leta is a research-based artist. Through the reworking of archival images, photographic staging, and elements of fiction, her artistic practice intersects digital archaeology and speculative storytelling as tools for rethinking the past into the present. She is currently based between the French Alsace and Switzerland.
She also works as a commercial photographer.
PROJECTS
The Unmovable Mover (2022-2024)
A Sudden Unspeakable Sweat (2024-ongoing)
Docile Flesh: Eye, Mouth, and Sugar (ongoing)
CV
CONTACT
hello@alessandraleta.com
instagram
+41 77 814 XX XX
ATELIER
Unterdessen
Schanzenstrasse 13
CH-4056 Basel
A SUDDEN UNSPEAKABLE SWEAT (ongoing)
A miracle? A tragedy? A cautionary tale?
This project explores the murky space between
memory, truth, and the stories that shape our personal and collective
histories. It is based on an oral account passed down
through generations within a family: a tinsmith, while working high
on a church bell, suddenly fell down from the tower. Miraculously, he
survived the fall unscathed, but the priest standing below was killed
instantly.
Though the story has been told and retold over time, there
is no concrete evidence of the event, and its accuracy remains in
question.
By recreating artifacts, images, and narratives surrounding the event
– a sort of evidence for an incident that exists solely through family
memory – A Sudden Unspeakable Sweat examines the ways in which stories take shape
and solidify across generations. It raises questions about the
reliability of oral history and the role of imagination in filling gaps
where truth is uncertain, reflecting on the very nature of storytelling
and how it transforms the relationship between fact and fiction.
The
work ultimately challenges the necessity of truth in preserving
memory, asking whether the meaning of an event lies in its veracity
or in the impact it leaves behind, exploring the tension between what
is remembered, what it believed, and what is left to the imagination.