Veronica Benedetti's 'Ofelia' Project Transforms Grief Through Experimental Photography at Liquida Photofestival

Visual artist Veronica Benedetti has created a photographic project titled 'Ofelia' for Liquida Photofestival that transforms personal grief into a visual process of acceptance. The work centers on everyday objects that belonged to the artist's grandmother, which are isolated from their original domestic contexts and placed in sterile, clinical settings reminiscent of forensic photography. This approach creates a visual inventory that avoids sentimentality while cataloging memories with deliberate awareness. Benedetti employs the anthotype technique, using plant pigments and extended light exposure to create images that gradually fade over time, mirroring the fragility of memory. The project explores how archival practices can become acts of care rather than detachment, allowing absence to become visible through material traces. Benedetti's broader artistic practice investigates memory, genealogy, and belonging through experimental photography, analog processes, and installation work, often incorporating family archives and materials subject to natural transformation. 'Ofelia' specifically suggests the possibility of letting go rather than preserving memories unchanged, presenting memory as a continuous, fragile process. The work was presented as part of Liquida Photofestival, which focuses on emerging photography and contemporary narratives.