Libera Mazzoleni
Brothels
Boîte Editions, Lissone — 2023
Brothels is a silent story, as are forgotten events, buried under the dust.
With this book, Libera Mazzoleni has tried to rekindle memory about the existence of brothels in Nazi concentration camps. This matter was revealed only in the Ninety’s, almost fifty years after the horror of World War II. Archive’s photographs and short narrative and poetic texts, in English, recall the intertwining of sexual pleasure and exploitation, showing the number of unknown aspects referred to one of the most dramatic events of the last century.
It is this aspect, namely the elusive memory, that guides Mazzoleni. By twisting photographs, the artist conveys how the thought rereads history. The outcome is a dreamlike, solitary, and evocative landscape that seems to be unaware of its historical reasons. The observer leafs through the pages of the book with tactfulness together with the voyeurism that portrays a witness: the witness of a story that cannot be forgotten.
Brothels is a limited edition of 250 copies of which 30 specials combined with an original signed and numbered artwork.
