About me

I realized I could cut freehand shapes during my university studies in Arts at DAMS (Disciplines of Arts, Music, and Performing Arts). It was a coincidence. And what a surprise! From that moment, I began exploring the potential of cut forms. I enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts to combine theory with painting practice because I wanted to understand it and integrate it into the world of cutting. But it was the works of masters like Johann-Jakob Hauswirth, Henri Matisse, and Lotte Reiniger that profoundly inspired my development as a paper artist.

My first work experiences were illustrating local magazines and current topics, followed by illustrated albums and especially poetry.

When I began experimenting with shadow puppet theater, I studied the performances of the Australian master Richard Bradshaw; communication skills and irony helped me understand my goal.

Shadow puppet theater is what allows me to open a dialogue with the more anarchic ‘universe’ of form, or rather of the shape, its shadow.

Bio

Clementina Mingozzi, who signs her work as ⏳CMing, was born in Turin in 1959. Books and a varied life brought her to Bologna, where she first attended DAMS-arts. When she discovered her natural inclination for freehand paper cutting, she decided to combine it with her painting experience and graduated in 1985 from the Academy of Fine Arts.

1986 – 2005

In the following years, she deepens her artistic exploration and rediscovers the ancient and vital meaning of papirografia. In Italy, the term has been in use since 1822 with at least two meanings: the first related to 19th-century lithographic experimentation, in which the stone plate was replaced with mineral powders and compressed cardboard; the second, defined by Ercole Livizzani (1795-1874), referring to the creation of artworks born from freehand paper cutting.

In her journey, Clementina recognizes affinities that unite freehand paper-cutters, from spontaneous cutting to performance. Her work is not limited to the use of scissors and paper but is enriched with plays of light and shadow, reworked paper, and shapes in motion, eventually leading to shadow figure theater.

To name the roots of her artistic expression, since 2005 she has adopted and renewed the use of the term ‘Papirografia’ in the events she conducts.

She was included in the exhibition “Doctor Pencil & Mister China” at the Gallery of Modern Art in Bologna in 1986. Initially, she published black silhouette on white background illustrations in limited edition poetry collections and periodicals, including Portici, a bi-monthly magazine of the province of Bologna, from 1997-2001.

In the meantime, she conducted workshops with all types of audiences, expanding her personal experience and observations on spontaneous cutting reactions. In her studio, she continued experimenting with papers on frames made transparent, acetates, micro-cut projections, and mixed technique assemblies in slides. One evening, she projected them on the facade of the offices opposite her home, realizing the idea of collaborating in performances with poet friends and over time with various artists: musicians, opera singers, and actors.

In 2004 in “Illustrando Cappuccetto,” an exhibition and catalog created by the Republic of San Marino for “its children,” she was entrusted with interpreting Perrault’s version of the fairy tale – Little Red Riding Hood. The exhibition became itinerant and passed through various locations under the name “Nero lupo rosso Cappuccetto,” including the Salaborsa Library of the Municipality of Bologna and the PInAC Foundation of Rezzato.

In 2005, she staged her first shadow performance, “Papere e papiri. Un omaggio a Andersen” for the Salaborsa Library of the Municipality of Bologna. It was repeated the same year at the Casa Piani Library in Imola. Also in 2005, she presented the paper cutting-out technique as a therapeutic approach in collaboration with psychologist Makoto Tsunoda at the Rakuwakai Care System Medical Festival in Kyoto, Japan.

2006 – 2015

In 2006, she dedicated herself to “Ascolta Amadé… Tutte le note sono qui, accanto te!” an animated painting meeting the public for the “La Tribù dei lettori” at the Globe Theatre in Villa Borghese, Rome Municipality. Finally, in 2008, she tackled the colorful notes of papers and used semi-transparent papers with the publication of bicolors in “Poesie per aria” by Chiara Carminati, Topipittori; a book that took her to the Mantua literature festival, Festivaletteratura.

She was invited by the staff of the FMAV – Figurine Museum to collaborate on the creation of “Sagome Inquiete, Ombre e Silhouette: dalle Figurine al Cinema” in 2010, where she produced “Opere al Nero,” five interactive stations inspired by her research on shadows, shapes, and silhouettes. That same year, she introduced “Buio in Sala, a Spasso con l’Ombra,” an entertainment event blending literature and the history of light, for the European Night of Museums and “Nessun Dorma,” Modena’s night of culture, motors, and flavors. Additionally, she was featured among the authors in the international publication “L’art de la Découpage” by Jean-Charles Trebbi, Éditions Alternative, Paris.

In the following years, she continued to organize reading sessions, workshops, and animations with “La Tribù dei Lettori” at the Auditorium Parco della Musica – Festa della Lettura in Rome, and “Pagine Maestre” in Padua. In 2014, she was invited to illustrate poetry in a solo exhibition during the Book Week with Bologna Fiere. In 2015, Cool Japan promoted a second exhibition of her work dedicated to Haiku poetry at the International Library of Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

During this time, the shadow puppet theater show “Haiku per giochi d’ombra” in its first edition, 2015, for the Punto e Virgola Festival in Padua was born; she was always responsible for the ideation, direction, and scenography. The show in its third version was present at the Modena philosophy festival, Festivalfilosofia, in 2018.

2016 – 2018

In the meantime, the mere sheets of black paper, cut, frayed, torn, deformed, and modeled, became works and sculptures in motion for the exhibitions, “Eco d’ombra” at the Nelumbo Gallery in Bologna, and “La forza dell’ombra” at the Carbone Gallery in Ferrara. In 2016, at the Cinnoteca of the Cineteca di Bologna, she officially reintroduced Papirografia on the occasion of “Ombre, silhouette, papirografia nel cinema di Lotte Reiniger” in Bologna.

In parallel, she has been working for some years in her studio on paper cutout in dyed and semi-transparent papers. She had the opportunity to publish her expressive research illustrating “Le avventure di Augusta Snorifass” by Chiara Carminati, Mondadori – Contemporanea, 2018. They were exhibited at the La Pazienza Arte e Libri bookstore and gallery, Ferrara.

2019 – Present

She published a first draft of her research, both practical and theoretical, in the catalog of the exhibition she participated in, also with some works, in the same year, titled “Di carta: edizioni e fogli di pregio tra antico e contemporaneo,” Officina della Scrittura – Museum of the Sign and of Writing (2018-2019), Turin, edition Gli Ori.

“Con l’arte nel DNA” is the title given by Maria Gioia Tavoni to the dialogue she had with the artist, published on the Insula europea website and in the limited edition booklet “A tu per tu,” Tipografia Rossi, 2019, a collection of artistic testimonies, which, in our case, narrates forty years of challenging, exciting, and never exhausted research.

And now, from all this, new projects are in the process of growing…