CLEMENTINA MINGOZZI

Poesie per aria, Topipittori 2009 1st edition & 2020 2nd edition.
I have always loved illustrating poetry because it is a concentration of thought, and I was thrilled to discover that the publisher, Topipittori, felt I was in tune with Chiara Carminati’s collection. They were not wrong: I love Nature viscerally. The feelings expressed in the poems were sincere and universal. Once again, I lost myself among the clouds to capture their full variety, overcoming the challenge of the stereotypical depictions often found in children’s books.

Le avventure di Aaugusta Snorifass. Mondadori 2018 – contemporary, still in production.

I would have liked to be Augusta! A determined little paper doll, creative with scissors always ready in her pocket, born first from Andersen’s scissors and then from Chiara Carminati’s pen. A friend of a crow, a tin soldier, and families of little mice, I wish I could live with them. It’s a series of stories I would continually reinterpret to ensure I miss nothing of what happens within them.

Haiku. Cool Japan, Gakken, J-Lop 2016.
It may seem that haiku and the technique of paper cutting, cutting-out, are born by chance, but this is not the case. Like musical improvisation or driving a vehicle, one must know where they want to go and how to achieve it with genuine feeling, in harmony with that of the poet; moreover, by the shortest route. But only practice and dedication will take us deep into the poetry of images and words. I have spoken and discussed with Japanese haiku experts to approach their world in the most authentic way.

Illustrando Cappuccetto, catalog of the exhibition dedicated to ‘All the children of San Marino’. Little Red Riding Hood 2004.
The exhibition catalogs were born from the desire to showcase the various interpretations that Little Red Riding Hood has had throughout history. I was entrusted with Perrault’s version, in which the girl has no escape; the wolf definitively devours both her and the Grandmother. For the author, it had to be an exemplary life story. It was one of my first works of Paper cut-out with papers. I used it expressively, with each page veined with red to predict the end, culminating in a dramatic crescendo of tension until the bright red moment when, caught on the wolf’s claw, only the girl’s red hood remains, and the Grandmother’s chair had just been left empty.

Periodicals, Selected illustrations from periodicals. In order from left, descending: Smerigliana, Portici, L’alfabeto di Atlantide, Lettera 96.
I spent a few years seeing the world in black and white, with no room for shades or colors. My feelings had to be expressed in a concentrated and concise form. My first commissions came from illustrating the magazine of the province of Bologna “Portici.” It was an incredibly valuable training ground, trying to interpret even the city council poetically—like attempting to recover the Holy Grail! From the conversation with Maria Gioia Tavoni, December 28, 2018.