Sana Sana — Lacavalla Rosa

Sana Sana tells of a journey towards healing that comes from the inside to the outside and the slow and delicate process of recovery from emotional wounds.

Sana Sana (Heal Heal) / Colita de rana (Frog’s tail) is repeated like a mantra. Si no sanas hoy (If you don’t heal today) / Sanarás mañana (You will heal tomorrow). These verses are taken from a popular South American chant sung by mothers to comfort their children when they get hurt. A simple song becomes a ritual, born out of love, and its words have acquired a magical belief: if you repeat these verses out loud, you will start to heal.

The need to give a visual form to specific feelings and their resolution brings the author to face them and give them a shape, albeit metaphorical. It makes her able to free herself from that weight. For this reason, the images take on different meanings, becoming symbolic translations of feelings, moments of anxiety and comfort, uneasiness and quiet. When we begin to recognize our emotions while we are in the throes of emotional suffering we are already on the way to recovery and it allows us to welcome our feelings with some degree of awareness.

Documenting a shamanic rite towards emotional healing and personal growth, the images dance between the subtleties of every day and bring the spectator the comforting feeling of a healing ritual passing by an intricate and often rough path like rock, with the presence of shaded areas, where the cause of the problems and the key to solving them are hidden.

Sanarás mañana, she repeats to herself, and there will be no more reason to live this “sad melody”.

Installation view of A Man’s World, Better Days Will Come at Cavallerizza Torino, Turin (IT)

A Man’s World, Better Days Will Come
Group show, May 2023

Liquida Photo Festival,
Cavallerizza Torino, Turin (IT)
Curated by Laura Tota, Paratissima

Detail from ther exhibition

Installation view of Sana Sana at Safelight, Berlin (DE)
© Nicolas Blanchadell

Detail from the exhibition

Sana Sana
Solo show, July 2023

Safelight Berlin, Berlin (DE)
Curated by Nicolas Blanchadell, Safelight Paper

Detail from the exhibition

Sana Sana
Solo show, September 2022

Encontros da Imagem,
gnration, Braga (PT)
Curated by Simone Almeida, Carla Bacelar and Noora Manty

Installation view of Sana Sana at gnration, Braga (PT)

Premio Francesco Fabbri per le Arti Contemporanee
Group show, November 2023

Fondazione Francesco Fabbri, Pieve di Soligo (IT)
Curated by Carlo Sala

Installation view of Premio Francesco Fabbri per le Arti Contemporanee at Fondazione Francesco Fabbri, Pieve di Soligo (IT)

Public installation

Being Human - Pop-Up Open Call
Group show, September 2023

PhEST, Monopoli (IT)
Curated by Giovanni Troilo and Arianna Rinaldo

Screening of Cahier d’images at Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg (LUX)

Cahier d’images
Screening, December 2022

Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg (LUX)
Curated by Reza Kianpour

Der Greif Studio X Max Brown HotelsGroup show, April 2024

Der Greif Studio
Max Brown Hotels, Milan (IT)
Curated by Der Greif

Public installation

Camera Work - OFFGroup show, May 2021

Ravenna (IT)
Curated by Silvia Camporesi

Installation view of New Talents 2020 at B-Part Am Gleisdreieck, Berlin (DE)

New Talents 2020Group show, December 2020

B-Part Am Gleisdreieck, Berlin (DE)
Curated by Bénédicte Blondeau,
PEP - Photographic Exploration Project

Sana Sana

Photobook Dummy

Design by Giulia Boccarossa, Rosa Lacavalla
Editing by Rosa Lacavalla, Tommaso Parrillo (Witty Books), Rocco Venezia
Cover illustrations by Cecilia Ferri
Text by Beatriz Pichi Malen
Translation by Natasha Besoky

Typeface
ABC Diatype

Paper
Fedrigoni Arena Natural Rough 140g
Fedrigoni Materica Verdigris 250g

240 x 300 mm / 128 pages
Soft cover, Swiss binding
Printed and binded in 2023 by Faservice & Fonderia 20.9
Limited edition of 10 copies

The first dummy book of this work has been developed during FOLIO 2022/23 PhMuseum Online Masterclass on Photobook Making

Awards

• Charta Award 2024 – Finalist
• Star Photobook Dummy Award 2024 – Finalist
• BUP Book Award 2024 – Finalist
• APhF Dummy Award feat. Witty Books 2024 – Finalist

KAPITEL #1
Group show, December 2024

Studio Tabac, Stockholm (SE)
Curated by Studio Tabac

Photos: © Theo Elias & Studio Tabac

Detail from the exhibition

Installation view of Dummies & Books from FOLIO 2023, DumBO, Bologna (IT)

Dummies & Books from FOLIO 2023
Group show, September 2023

PhMuseum Days, DumBO, Bologna (IT)
Curated by Camilla Marrese

Detail from the exhibition Dummies & Books from FOLIO 2023, DumBO, Bologna (IT)

APhF Dummy Award feat. Witty Books
Group show, June 2024

Athens Photo Festival,
Benaki Museum / Pireos 138,
Athens (GR)
Curated by Sylvia Sachini