Pippa Bacca

Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo (December 9, 1974 – March 31, 2008), known as Pippa Bacca, was an Italian performance and feminist artist.

On March 31, 2008, Pippa Bacca disappeared in Gebze in Turkey during an international hitchhiking trip to promote world peace under the motto, "marriage between different peoples and nations". Bacca and fellow artist Silvia Moro were symbolically wearing wedding dresses during their trek. On April 11, 2008, the police arrested a man who later confessed to her murder and led the authorities to the discovery of her body.

Biography

Early life

Pippa Bacca was born in Milan on December 9, 1974, as Giuseppina Valeria Laura Maria Pasqualino di Marineo. Her father, Guido Pasqualino di Marineo, was originally from Naples and descended from Neapolitan nobility. Her mother, Elena Manzoni dei Conti di Chiosca e Poggiolo, likewise came from an affluent noble family of Sicilian origin. Baccas' mother was the older sister of the artist Piero Manzoni.

Bacca was the third of five sisters and she also had a half-brother from her father's remarriage. As children, their mother dressed Bacca and her sisters all in green to make them recognizable and to not lose them. As an adult, Bacca would decide to always wear the color green, and she would also write all her letters and postcards in green ink. Furthermore, Bacca would become a vegetarian, but once a year, she would indulge herself and eat fish.

As her uncle Piero Manzoni died before the birth of Bacca she never met him; but as her mother Elena safeguarded her brother's artistic legacy and preserved his art. Bacca grew up well aware of her uncle's artistic work, and she and her siblings were raised "breathing the same creative air" as their uncle.

Despite the family considering themselves as nonconformist, Bacca and her family were, in many ways conservative, with devoutly Catholic and pro-monarchist values. Both of Bacca's parents were politically active; her father was the leader of the political party the Italian Monarchist Union in the 1970s, and her mother was involved in the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and considered a right wing liberal. They were also engaged in the Silenzia Maggiore movement (Silent Majority which was formed as a reaction to the 1968 student protests in Italy.

As an adult, Bacca would lean towards the left politically, but continued to be a believer and practitioner of the Catholic faith. She often wore a chain around her neck with the image of Saint Joseph of Cupertino.

Bacca's parents separated when she was five years old, and then divorced in 1987. Afterwards, her family lived in the Azienda Lombarda Edilizia Residenziale public housing units located in Corso Garibaldi. Sharing a strong family bond, the sisters would call themselves "Il Neurone" (The neuron), as they felt they were part of one neuron.

At a young age, her mother instilled a love of traveling in Bacca, and the family would explore Italy and Europe in an old van. In 1987, Bacca, her mother, and her sisters traveled the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela. They made their way through walking, biking, and hitchhiking.

Education

Bacca attended a classical high school (liceo classico) geared toward Italian and foreign literature, history, philosophy and art history. She had thoughts about pursuing a degree in mathematics, but after her graduation instead of continuing her studies she decided to travel to Ireland where she spent a year before returning to Italy to find work. On her return, Bacca lived with her mother and sister Maria and found part time work in an interbank call center.

Bacca also worked for Archivo Opere Piero Manzoni between 1998 and 2003 and assisted the art historian Germano Celant compile a catalogue raisonné of her uncles art.

Artistic work

Sometime around 1995, Bacca started seriously pursuing being an artist. Baccas first solo exhibition took place in 1999 and was called ''Angeli: vita, morte e miracoli'' (Angels: life,death and miracle) at the Slobs Gallery in Milan. Bacca had cut out silhouettes in colored paper and cardboard.

Baccas second exhibit Matres Matutae was held in 2001. These like her first exhibit was also silhouettes but this time inspired by votive offerings to the goddess Mater Matuta representing different aspects of motherhood.

This was followed in 2002 with ''La luna nel pozzo'' (The Moon in the Well) at Galleria Fondo Perduto where Bacca explored theme of femininity by retracing the phases of the moon in fourteen works, from new moon to full moon.

Bacca was also drawn to performance art, an expression that seemed to align with her own personality. For example, on an occasion Bacca went to meet a boyfriend at the Bergamo railway station where she dressed up as a mermaid and bathed in the fountain in front of the station.

While dating another boyfriend, he broke up with her and told her that he was not in love with her. Bacca in response had 1,500 badges printed with the words "I am in love with Pippa Bacca, Ask me why!" and distributed them all over Milan to make sure her ex-boyfriend would see them and how many people were in love with Bacca that he would reconsider his decision.

But according to some sources, her artistic projects and her eccentric lifestyle were not one and the same, though it could appear as such to outsiders. It has also been expressed that Bacca's aim was not to make a career as an artist but for the pursuit of art for its own sake.

Hitchhiking was a great interest of Bacca, and she would travel both with her family and on her own in countries such as North America, Ireland, Spain, Russia and Turkey. During the sometimes long waits for a lift, Bacca would recite the Rosary. Bacca was also very familiar with the lives of saints and would talk at length about them when in company.

Incorporating her hitchhiking in her artistic work, Bacca would photograph the people who gave her a lift and also later record their conversations. These photographs would later be used in the 2004 exhibition ''Più oltre'' which was held in Perugia.

Bacca worked with different media, including photography, collage and embroidery. Her 2004 piece, ''Surgical Mutations,'' consisted of a series of leaves collected in a wood and cut-out as to resemble different floral species. In 2006, she had her first institutional solo exhibition, ''The Broken Image'' at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan.

Around this time Bacca was also a member of the art collective Coniglio Viola where she helped to curate some exhibitions.

Another project of Baccas was photographing people on the streets of Milan in 2007. These photos would then be put in glass jar with grappa and flour and then shaken with the dispersion of the grains of flour in the liquid; the effect would be that of mist (''scighera in the Milanese dialect'') around the photos.
Bacca was also a singer and joined Coro di Micene, an historically anarchist choir in Milan. She would then go on to start her own choir, Bubble Gum, in the summer of 2005. Their finale number was always Besame Mucho, but after the death of Bacca, the choir always end it with the song Moon River which was a favourite of Baccas.

For the choir's performances, she would take on the persona of Eva Adamovich whose outfit included a black wig and a green ostrich boa. This was something Bacca had stated in 1997, that she had five different aspects to herself or rather had five alter egos:

Baccas alter egos

* The aforementioned Eva Adamovich, who wore only high heels and very heavy makeup, tight dresses and a wig. She called everyone "love" and "sweetheart", but she didn't trust anyone. She stated that she was a virgin because she was forever linked to her first love who died in tragic circumstances. To further emphasize that they were two different people Pippa Bacca and Eva Adamovich had different telephone numbers.
* Pippa Pasqualino di Marineo, the hardworking employee of the call center where Bacca worked.
* Pippa Bacca, her artist persona who was very social and had many friends. Bacca had been known by this name since her school days. It was originally the name of a doll Bacca had owned as a child and diminutive of "Giuseppina". It has also been claimed that her half-brother as a child was unable to say the name "Giuseppina" which instead came out as Pippa. Pippa would then go on to add Bacca to the name since it means "cuddle" in the Milanese dialect and because it reminded her of the god Bacchus.
* "The Green Rabbit" (Il coniglio verde) whose naked body was covered by a green cloak. It didn't appear very often.
* Furthermore, Bacca herself would also be the subject of other artists. Camilla Micheli photographed Bacca's two personalities "Pippa Bacca" and "Eva Adamovich" posing as of Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters. The title of the paraphrase being :''Ritratto presunto di Pippa ed Eva" (Portrait presumed to be Pippa and Eva).''

"Brides on Tour"

Sometime before 2004 Bacca attended a wedding of a friend. The friend was concerned about getting her white gown dirty which made Bacca think about how strange it was that a piece of clothing that was used for just one special day could hold such importance. This was the inspiration for "Brides on tour project."

In 2006, Bacca started working on the performative piece to promote world peace called "Brides on Tour," with fellow artist Silvia Moro. In the two years preceding the project, Bacca learned Arabic as to be able to communicate with the people she would meet between Turkey and Jerusalem.

The artists, wearing white wedding dresses, departed from Milan on 8 March 2008, travelled through the Balkans and arrived in Turkey twelve days later. They had planned to hitchhike through the Middle East, their final destination being Jerusalem. Concerning their attire, they reported on their website that "That's the only dress we'll carry along – with all stains accumulated during the journey."

Disappearance

After travelling together across Europe, Bacca and Moro split up just prior to arriving in Istanbul, planning to meet up again in Beirut. Bacca was last seen on 31 March. Her credit card was reportedly used at noon of that day. Bacca's naked, strangled, and decomposing body was found in bushes near Gebze, about southeast of Istanbul.

The man who led the police to her body, Murat Karataş, was detained and arrested after reportedly confessing to raping and strangling Bacca on 31 March after taking her in his Jeep from a gas station. DNA testing suggested that Bacca was raped by multiple people, and not just Karataş. The suspect said he was "under the influence of drugs and alcohol" and could not remember what happened.

Karataş had been traced after he inserted his own SIM card into the victim's cellphone – which alerted police, since he had a previous conviction for theft. Bacca's own information was wiped from the mobile device, implicating, according to the lawyer for Bacca's family, at least one other accomplice since Karataş could not speak English and left school after the third grade.

Funeral

Bacca's funeral took place on 19 April 2008, in front of the San Simpliciano church of Milan. Over 1,000 people gathered. Politicians Letizia Moratti and Barbara Pollastrini attended as well as representatives of the Turkish authorities.

Sidewalks and houses in the vicinity of the church were decorated with green balloons and banners. Bacca's coffin was also covered in a cloth in her favorite color green and the choir she had started performed during the ceremony.

Bacca's alter ego Eva Adamovich got an obituary in the newspaper Corriere della Sera, where it was stated that she had "departed for a never-ending tour of the Bahamas".

Bacca was buried in the family tomb in Casirate d'Adda with the dress she wore on her tour, as it was the dress she wore at the time of her death.

According to her mother, she was also buried with a pair of favorite green patchwork dungarees, the ostrich boa she had worn as Eva Adamovich, and a gold chain with the medal of Saint Joseph of Copertino, patron saint of undisciplined students.

Aftermath

In the aftermath, Bacca's sister Maria gave a statement to the Italian news agency ANSA. " acca'stravels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and trust, but not everyone deserves trust... We weren't particularly worried because she had been hitchhiking for a long time, and thus was capable of avoiding risky situations... She was a determined person when it came to her art".

The Turkish president Abdullah Gül called the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano to express his grief. A commentary in ''Today's Zaman'', while expressing sadness for the woman's death, criticized the supposed obsequiousness of Turkish politicians to "foreigners" in the Bacca case, writing: "Let's face it, if Pippa were a Turk, some people would feel free to say that a hitchhiking woman deserves to be raped." The columnist argued that local problems such as violence against women should be addressed regardless of Turkey's concern for being shamed before foreigners. ''Hürriyet'', a top selling Turkish newspaper, printed an article on the murder entitled "We are ashamed".

On the occasion of the 2009 Art Festival in Faenza, Istanbul Biennial director Fulya Erdemci made a public apology on behalf of her country. Bacca's fellow traveler Silvia Moro returned to Milan and stopped making art after the incident.

Legacy

Bacca was an artist not well known outside Milan before her death, but the circumstances of her death has made her become a symbol for the vulnerability of women, and she has come to represent resistance and resilience. But critics has also pointed at the risk artists will go to in pursuit of artistic endeavours.

Even so, Baccas last project has continued inspiring others in many different expressions and mediums.

The performance artist Carolina Bianchi processes her own sexual assault in her piece "Cadela Força" (Bitch Strength) by taking a knockout drug, and while still conscious, she talks about the femicide of Bacca.

For her 2010 project "My Letter to Pippa", Turkish documentary filmmaker Bingöl Elmas, dressed in black as a symbol of grief and traveled the same road as Bacca while documenting her own journey.

Tooth for tooth by Nezeket Ekici (2016).

The painter Franco Biagioni who depict events in his l’Archivio Dipinto della Memoria (''Painted Archive of Memory)'' in a style reminiscent of votive paintings has depicted the death of Bacca in one of his paintings.

In 2011, Italian artist Nadia Impala recorded the song Correndo con le forbici in mano (Ode a Pippa Bacca) (Running with scissors in the hand Ode to Pippa Bacca).

In 2013, the band Radiodervish released the album ''Human'', the first song, 'Velo di sposa', in memory of Pippa Bacca.

Elina Chauvet a Mexican artist was inspired by Baccas story for her Corazón Abierto (''Open Heart'') piece in 2012 and dedicated her project "La Confianza" to Bacca. It consisted of white gowns that were embroidered with red thread showing messages and images. The work was exhibited at the Dior Gallery in Paris.

Bacca's photography project in 2007 inspired the book of short stories, "Il ponte della Ghisolfa" (The bridge over the Ghisolfa) by the Milanese author, Giovanni Testori.

In 2024, it was announced that a film was going to be made about the life of Bacca. The movie will be produced by the Palermo-based production company Tramp Limited and directed by Levi Riso.

Ti sei vestita di bianco (You dressed in white) an exhibition at the MURATS (Museo unico regionale dell'arte tessile sarda) in Samugheo is a tribute to Bacca and "all women who undertake journeys of discovery and personal growth, inviting us to reflect on the universal values of love, hope and solidarity."

Tributes

A documentary about the story of Bacca, ''La Mariée'' (''The Bride''), was directed by Joël Curtz in 2012. The film features video archives from Bacca's camera that the film team had been able to recover.

The White Dress (2020) is a semi-fictional account of the last days of Bacca by Nathalie Léger.

Bermdans in bruidsjurk (2020) (Roadside dance in wedding dress) by Sarah Venema is a non-fiction book exploring the events leading up to Baccas death.

In 2008, The women's compassion movement in Konya named one of its women's shelters after Bacca.

In 2020, the city of Milan dedicated a public garden in the Brera district to Bacca.

See also

* Frank Lenz, American adventurer who disappeared in Ottoman Turkey while cycling
* Kayla Mueller, American activist and aid worker abducted by ISIS and later killed
* List of solved missing person cases
* Murders of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland

Bibliography

* Giorgio Bonomi, Martina Corgnati, ''Brides on Tour'', Fondazione Mudima, Milan, and Byblos Art Gallery, Verona, 2009.
* Pippa Bacca, ''Eva e le altre'', Cambi Editore, Poggibonsi, Italy, 2016.

References

External links

Official website

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1974 births
2000s missing person cases
2008 deaths
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Feminist artists
Formerly missing Italian people
Incidents of violence against women
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Missing person cases in Turkey
Pacifist feminists
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Violence against women in Turkey
Deaths by strangulation
20th-century Italian nobility
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Italian women collage artists