The work is composed by four vertical photos. They are taken in a documentary way using an analog camera (Yashica FX-3 SUPER 2000). The images propose to the viewer a customary ritual inside the life of a young woman: in front of a mirror she cuts her fringe. The colours are warm and soft giving a pastel impression.
In these three images the girl’s routine is documented through the mirror.
The first photograph documents the girl combing her fringe. The comb covers her gaze. Simultaneously the picture is covered partially by part of her arm. In the second image she looks straight in the mirror while she presses on her forehead her fringe. The face has a peculiar expression. The third one shows the girl cutting the fringe. In doing so her eye gets half covered. Like in the first picture, part of the superior limbs are an active part of the image. Indeed is possible to recognize on top the blurred grey colour of the scissor in her hand and below her sweatshirt. What the viewer experiences is close to the experience of the girl, whose gaze is hindered by her arm and tools.
In the last image the young woman has finished her ritual, with one hand she places the tools down and with the other hand she is scratching her neck. The back of the girl is visible now and she is looking downwards. This shot enables the viewer to create distance from what just experienced and relate to the girl’s ritual.
The title Pettinata allude to a provocation as the Italian world means: “a girl that has her hair well combed” and also “high class”.
