ILARIA DE PLANO
(Italian, 1991) explores themes relating to the entropic ability to recycle purpose and retain meaning. Her latest series, “RIP,” responds to the death of print media and endangered human intimacy as a result of digital interconnectivity and overstimulation. Ilaria attempts to reimagine vanishing mediascapes through her use of found materials; pamphlets, magazines, wrappers, cardboard, and packaging. Intentionally avoiding the use of tools, her method produces a handmade palette of rips and tears, symbolizing the battle scars inherent to the exhaustive act of survival. In this ode to Arte Povera, Ilaria’s work turns expired messaging— from high-fashion print ads to chemistry text books— into a comprehensive assemblage of vibrant colors, textures, and hidden images.