SelectedWorks from the Terra Studio
Resurrection No. 3—Giulia’s Acqua Tofana
Oil on birch, 2025
Into the Night body of work. 2023- now
Thofania d’Adamo (right) was executed on July 12, 1633 for poisoning her husband Francesco d’Adamo. At that time she had already helped many other women escape abusive marriages via poison. Knowing that the authorities would soon catch up with her, Thofania shared the recipe with her daughter Giulia (left) who took her mothers first name as her last as was common at the time, named the potion in her honor—Acqua Tofana—and fled to Rome.
This piece is the second in a triptych of Thofania, Giulia, Acqua Tofana, and the larger social landscape of 17th century Southern Italy rife with violence against women that necessitated this kind of action. It depicts the night that Thofania poisons Francesco and Giulias rite of passage into the work of her mother.
Resurrection No 2. — Giulia’s Mamma’s Belladonna, oil on birch, 2 x 3 ft. 2024.
Into the Night body of work, 2023 — now.
I wasn’t sure how much more I could take, then she came to me in a dream—my great great great grandmother—to show me the way. Listen to the fairies she said. Then she reminded me of what I saw as a child, what I didn’t want to remember. The abuse my mother endured from my father. This wasn’t just in my home, she told me, but most of them. The norm behind closed doors, behind closed mouths. Black eyes, busted lips, broken bones, but not a word uttered out loud. Silence is sometimes louder. The next night I set out as the moon rose. Ah, the freedom of the night, shoulders uncovered, abundant darkness to take cover in. I went to the woods as instructed and let the dreams, instinct, and my nose lead the way. I knew her when I saw her. So beautiful, yet unassuming. Flowers growing under the leaves as to remain in the shadows. Dark berries blending in with the black of the night. I could hear the donni di notti nearby. I left some of my milk, as it was all I had to give, my breast’s full as the moon only having birthed Giulia a few months prior. As I gathered some in my arms, one of the fairies came to me. She told me she was expecting me and was here to help as hard times were ahead and this medicine wasn’t just for me. I began walking home, la fimmina on my shoulder, Belladonna in arm. We came to the edge of town and there it was, right in front of our eyes, in plain sight. Shouts and cries from the house, blood trickling into the paths between stones. I didn’t know them, but I knew them. I didn’t know how I was going to do this, but I knew what I had to do.
Thofania D’Adamo, October 1620
Excerpts from one of the artifacts that accompanies this piece.
Resurrection No. 1 — Mamma Etna, oil on birch. 2 x 2.5 ft. 2023.
Into the Night body of work, 2023 — now.
commission for Ancora Luce ANCORA LUCE - Film and Storytelling | Seed&Spark oil on birch. 2 x 2.5 ft. 2024
Our Ladies of the Night, spinning webs in the land of fire, oil on birch. 2 x 2.5 ft. 2022.
Angitia Reheading Medusa, sumi ink and gold leaf on walnut and coffee stained paper. 2019.
Eleanora, pencil, gold leaf & pigment on coffee stained paper. 2018.
Backwoods Spells, pencil, gold leaf & pigment on coffee and walnut stained paper. 2018.
Old Eyes, oil on birch. 2018.
Of Santa Lucia, oil on birch. 2018.
Anna the Anaconda, pencil & gold leaf on coffee stained paper. 2017.