Alice Arcangeli, aka Aliche SBRB, is a young Bolognese designer, curator, illustrator and performer, whose work is focused on sexuality and self-love. The artist, who defines her style as “very spontaneous and nearly childish”, uses her work as an opportunity to speak about uncomfortable topics in both a direct and soft manner.
Read our Q&A with Aliche to know more about her new design for the Curated By GIRLS collection, and the inspiration behind it.
IG: @aliche_sbrb
What’s your background as an artist?
I started thinking seriously about my career as an artist for about a year. Before, I always imagined it but I didn’t have the strength to take myself seriously. I feel a constant need to question myself and express myself in many different ways; drawing is certainly one of my main languages ​​but not the only one. Mulieris Magazine was also an important step for my growth: a project created with Sara Lorusso and Greta Langianni to which Chiara Cognini has recently joined. Mulieris Magazine is a platform born first online then turned into paper that aims to promote female artists from all over the world. I had just left high school and the working world for us artists did not seem at all welcoming and we thought “if in Italy there is no safe place for us well, let’s create it.” Feeling support from a team, from artists I value working with, gave me the strength to insist and continue my path. The road is still long but I’m happy with the results obtained this year, including of course my collaborations with CBG.
You have a very particular aesthetic. What is it inspired by?
I believe that my works are not very far from what I used to do as a child, and a part of my aesthetic certainly comes from my childhood and a remote part of my brain. Growing up I was influenced by many incredible artists that I still look with amazement at the beauty of their works such as Noemi Vola, Frances Cannon, Filthy Rat Bag and many others. My work is also a lot of what I want to express, drawing is not always the most appropriate language. In any case, I hope to keep a stylistic coherence in every discipline. Sometimes I think it’s more about being myself than being good.
What are your weaknesses and how do they give you strength?
My weaknesses are undoubtedly my sensitivity and my insecurity. This sensitivity was also my fragility over time before I could understand its potential. My emotions dominate my relationships, there isn’t one I live superficially. In the meantime, insecurity found a place everywhere in me, from my physical appearance to my abandonment syndrome. Over time I realized that it was only a matter of loving myself, finding people ready to accept this part of me and that my art could and should take this into account. I expose myself a lot on an emotional level also on social media. I write thoughts that are not always light and I show sides of my life that are difficult for me to accept, but showing them, declaring them, reminds me of their existence. It is not by denying my weaknesses that they will cease to exist. We have all thought we were alone at one point, but mental illness is common, and experienced by many of us. I decided that I would not be ashamed anymore and indeed I would show it. It won’t be strange to see a picture of me while I cry on my profile. If you talk about your sickness you have already taken away from your insecurities half of their power. I suffer a lot and cry as much, but I know I’m not the only one, I no longer intend to bury this and feel inadequate about it. There is nothing wrong with that, I have the right to expose it. You have no right to make me ashamed to show meat or tears.
You designed “Not appropriate” one of the tees from our previous collection. A big success! Now tell us about your new t-shirt “Not Your Pussy’: How did it come about and what was your inspiration for it?
Name is respect. I am me and I worked for years to become me. When I walk down the street for you I’m just “baby”, “honey”, “chick”, and you whistle at me, you are destroying all the work I did. For you I am a piece of meat, so ridiculous that it does not even deserve my name. Cat calling affects the lives of many women who no longer feel free to choose to travel certain paths over others and be able to wear what they really want or not. Is it really so pretentious for a woman to think she can go around the street safely? The objectification of the woman’s body is such a predictable concept and there is still debate about whether it is inappropriate or not. So in the meantime, let’s say that in case you have any doubts, maybe I can remind you with this t-shirt.
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Don’t whistle at me, I’m not your dog. I’m not your pussy, I’m all mine. Respect me, respect my name. Call me how I want to be called.”
What kind of reaction do you hope to get from people who see your t-shirt?
I hope that first of all it pleases from an aesthetic point of view but that there is also a thought regarding the topic, which raises questions or discussions. You wouldn’t know it looking at my works, but I don’t believe in slogans, or better, I don’t think slogans are enough. The slogans are just a way like any other to introduce topics but simplistic sentences are not enough. The objectification of women’s body does not end at “i’m not your pussy”. Unfortunately it requires a discussion much bigger and more rooted in our society. With small steps I hope it will give someone the possibility to be more aware of it. I really hope.
Picasso once said “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” What do you think ?
I don’t know if I am an artist, I don’t know who I am to say who I am and who is not an artist. I define myself as a “visual artist” to make things easier for me and those who listen to me but I use the term more for its versatility than anything else. I know with certainty, however, that a great characteristic of the human being is perception and if used consciously and actively we can develop sensations and new solutions. However, we live in a world that does not encourage perception and practicality, we are only interested in capital (and we also know that the artist’s life is not very simple!!!). But we can be actively creative in every area of ​​our lives. We can be creative whenever we can’t say something and we have to find language beyond words. We are creative when we have to improvise a lunch with 3 ingredients in the fridge and we can be creative when we look at the world. It’s up to us to decide how to spend our life.
What changes do you hope to see in the industry?
I feel that something is changing, we are the fluid generation in work too. But we are also the ones not taken seriously. I would like the job to be recognized as such, because at 20 years old I can’t despair to ask big companies for the minimum fee for my job. I want to live with my passion, I want to earn from my job, I don’t think I ask for much. Take me seriously.
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