Artist and SMArt

From the beginning of her stay in the Verzasca Valley, Malika Sqalli realized that the different places in the valley gave her opposite and contrasting sensations. Arriving with the intention of representing the valley’s relationship with tourism, she quickly felt oppressed by these « tourist spots » located near beaten paths and easily accessible: crowded car parks and rocks, river corners in vogue on instagram.

Faithful to her initial idea, she nevertheless decided to launch her project, representing the places most frequented by tourists. In her images, however, people remain distant and abstract. She decides to paint the visitors with bright colours that – depending on the title of her project – can be seen according to the sensitivity of the viewer, such as flowers or weeds.

Then Malika decides to leave the roads and the most frequented places in the valley. She begins her explorations among the peaks. Unlike the oppression she experiences at the bottom of the valley, Malika feels a new world up there and immerses herself in a personal fairy tale rich in new colors. Here, the paintings act as a visionary element in contrast to the material and artificial tones of the valley floor. In all the work, therefore, this dualism remains, between the materialism of the rapid and consumerist relationship of mass tourism and the feeling of solitude and the search for illumination, through the slow and reflective experience of nature.