Scheda Madre turns its gaze towards contemporary Italy, questioning current forms of belonging and national identity. Against a backdrop of migration, nationalist discourse and a crisis of representation, the video presents the Colosseum as the symbolic heart of the country, as a ‘motherboard’ generating identities, thereby challenging the notion of Italianness as a homogeneous construct. Who can be considered Italian? Which bodies, accents, religions or memories fall within or outside the national collective imagination? Far from offering definitive answers, the work reveals the contradictions of an identity defined as much by inclusion as by exclusion.

The piece focuses on how the concept of the nation is constructed today. Although the piece is set in Italy, its content can be applied to most European countries.

Work carried out at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome.