For my half-bust self-portrait of 2000, I chose to represent the head with an old rusty bike seat resting on a metal radiator that constitutes its torso. The salient features of the head are the spirals that extend superiorly like a bundle of hair (traces of the circumvolutions of thoughts, of the upward tension of human nature), and those that make up the face (an "elastic" face that marks the potential of shape to adapt and take on other forms). At the time, I was quite introverted, closed in my thoughts and feelings; I could not govern my own emotions, which totally filled my heart and mind. I was – I now realize - an alien and untouchable being, very sensitive and barricaded in my own weak self. This portrait represents Valentina’s reality of those years;shedid not possess a precise identity or a strong self, shedid not even seek her place in this world because her extreme will was not to exist. I refused myself, I denied life around me, and I destroyed myself with drugs, smoking, and alcohol. Unlike the self-portrait I created eleven years later (Me-tot), there is no superimposed colour here, only native colours exist. No roots sink into the ground: despite its physical heaviness,the work is a transparent and volatile portrait so to speak... Although it is made of an extremely "strong" material such as metal, the composition actually shows a weak and dispersive constitution. The causes and conditions that led to the creation of the work are my search for a balance between the objects outside myself and the magma within, a rather unstable balance in my reality of that time, at the total mercy of events. My solitary meditations after leaving my boyfriend of the time were still such as to scratch only the surface of my emotions and to make myself particularly vulnerable and confused. Nevertheless, I had a great determination to move forward on my path: I intendedto discover and accept myself fully. Such determination and inner strength emerge in the choice of "strong", lasting materials that possess their own weight and individuality. The content of this work is the search for my place in this world. After trying with all my might to please and gratify other peoplein order to get that affection and approval that I had been denied as a child, it was high time I revised my dependent attitude and accepted to exist as I was, with no compromise. This work operates for me as an emotional thermometer: it shows the state of my inner path. What is transient in this work is the choice of metals: I welcomed the material that resonated inside me at that moment and assembled it so that it would suit my feeling. What is original is the affirmation of my unique and unrepeatable place in the world, without any desire to gain approval or authorization from others. It represents a bareimage of my life as it was. This work attempts to shake off past attitudes and limitations to present a new image of me, a freewheeling image devoid of self-judgement. I recognize myself in it as in a frame of many years ago. During that time, many events took place to stratify my emotional reality and transform my person from within, too many to be able to identify entirely with the picture. Yet, that image representsme and I cannot disown it: it is a part of my life and, as such, I host it in my universe.