Opening speech of my photographic exhibition “May we be them”.

8th March 2022

Sold Out event

I’m Lavinia, some of you already know me.
I am a photographer and I specialize in photographing families. But not in the classic sense, posing and all smiling. But in a deeper, more personal way.
My family photography is made to capture emotions, it is made to tell fragments of life but above all it is made for your children! They are the ones who will enjoy this little treasure printed in an album that will be in their hands in 10 or 20 years.
But this is not the purpose of this exhibition.
Better, it is, but only partially. I’ll explain why in a moment.
Charity Dago durante il lavoro
Edwige Guiebre
Isabella Massamba ritratto

This exhibition is just a preview, of a larger event but for which a little more water has to pass under the bridges before it can see the light properly.
The photos on show tonight are part of my personal project that I called “MAY WE BE THEM”
And when I say personal project I mean just that. The reason that prompted me to make it is very personal.
I am happy to present this exhibition today, for International Women’s Day, because my whole project revolves around women. In Italy, this day is called “THE HOLIDAY” of women but when I look around I see nothing but mimosas that in a day or two will become hungry and will be thrown away, as well as the promises made to women.
That’s why my project doesn’t want to celebrate women, but to give them the opportunity to be recognized as leading figures to aspire to.

Julia Esther Jones allenamento per la maratona a Modena
Jill & Milli Pennington
Lorena Zuniga nello Spazio B5 a Bologna

When I was born, my mother was desperate when she saw that I was a girl. And not because a boy would have been better, but only because she knew that by being a girl, my life would be 100 times harder.
It was the 80’s in full dictatorial regime that demanded heroine mothers.
It has been 40 years since I was born. I live in Italy, which in some ways is different from my Romania…. but not so much … today on the street I heard a mother say to her son: women should be celebrated, you know? because they are special beings, they give their lives, they are mothers and teachers ”… therefore the concept of the heroine mother is still strongly rooted, not only in Romania, but also here in Italy.
Why am I surprised? It was the year 1896 that Maria Montessori asked for wage parity and after 126 years .. we are still here to ask for this blessed wage parity.

Viola Servi Api Selvatica e la sua compagna Cha
avv. Chiara Magrì nel suo studio a Modena
Caroline Caporossi con le volontarie

In my life I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by many women. Strong, intelligent, free women, I learned from them that I can do it, that I can and must stand on my own legs. But I also learned from them that the struggle is not over yet and that future generations will need support and points of reference.

That’s why I started photographing the women around me, to whom future generations of women and men can aspire. This project is my “little” treasure that I leave to your daughters and sons so that they can look at women with admiration and inspiration for the work they do, for the things they have achieved, for their struggle and not just because they are ” HEROIN MOTHERS “.

Because I want the feminine declination of all prefessional titles:
PRESIDENT, MAYOR, ADMIN, SURGEON, DOCTOR, LAWYER, REFEREE, is no longer a tongue twister to be avoided.