Young artist is all about representation in her art

ST Mary’s Old Girl, Cinzia Cioffi, is a fresh face in the art scene.

Having spent the past few years studying and experimenting with multiple forms of art, design and photography in Cape Town, the young artist pays tribute to her fine art roots in a current series of works created predominantly from ink and bleach.

Her art bio says: “The pieces are a study of the boundless potential possessed by the human body with particular reference to the gift of dance, movement and connection.”

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The young artist describes her work as being, “explorative and experimental for the time being, using a lot of different mediums, concepts and narratives.

“Most of my work I would describe as confrontational. I want to make work that makes people challenge their perceptions, ask questions and move beyond their comfort zone. A lot of my work is focused around challenging perceptions of gender and representation, particularly of women.”

Cioffi’s art is heavily centered around the human body, especially of women. She feels that women need to be represented in her art and she does that without objectifying a woman’s body and without appealing to the male gaze.

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“To me, there is nothing more intricate and sophisticated than the human body. I think among all that complexity, it’s easy to forget the incredible beauty each of us individually possess. Modern day beauty is something that is often categorised by social construct, but also something so profoundly available to us in everyday life.

“I draw attention to this in a lot of my artworks focusing solely on the magnificence that is the miracle of the human form, regardless of its shape or size,” she said.

The Cape Town-based artist has some of her prints being sold on the online fashion platform, Superbalist.

When asked on how she managed to get her work on such a huge platform, Cioffi said simply, “I just asked.”

She added: “I had been thinking of taking some of my work to market for a while, but with no real means to do so I saw Superbalist as an opportunity to expand. It’s an opportunity that I am incredibly grateful for and with a reach of so many people, who know where the pieces will end up? Ideally, I’d like it to be anywhere that my art can serve as inspiration and include a sense of creativity and freedom into a space,” she said humbly.

The freelance art director and designer is inspired by English artist, Damien Hirst and multi-disciplined Serbian artist, Marina Abramovi and personally, her muses are “Quiet time and self care,” she said.

“I think that it’s really important to give yourself time to recharge and realign, focus on your dreams and goals and tend to your personal needs both mentally and physically.”

Follow Cinzia’s Cioffi’s art page on Instagram – @cxnzia

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