AFFERMAZIONI
Screenshot Diva: Affermazioni (@affermazioni)
Manifesting, once the domain of Topanga Canyon mystics and new-age enthusiasts, has become a global recession-era mantra. One of its key principles is linguistic: say “I am rich” instead of “I will be rich”, and, allegedly, wealth will follow. Over the past few years, the internet has filled with this kind of small-screen spirituality: endless reels proclaiming “I am happy”, “I am thriving”, “I am healing”.
The Italian Instagram account AFFERMAZIONI sits precisely at the intersection of shitposting and semiotics. Both parody and mirror of accounts like @affirmations, it takes the format one step further by twisting the Italian language and producing statements that make no sense, yet somehow make perfect sense. Its success lies in this paradox: using popular idioms, provincial melancholy, and internet lingo as a new kind of poetry, where irony becomes both a coping mechanism and a mirror of our collective confusion.
How did AFFERMAZIONI begin? Was it meant to be ironic, therapeutic, or just… inevitable?
Affermazioni was born in January 2022, during a period when I was feeling particularly low. Giving voice to certain feelings and moods through self-irony and internet language felt like the simplest and most natural way for me to express myself.
Before memes, I used to write songs: first with a band called “I Vostri,” then with the idea of a solo project that I never quite managed to bring to life and that remains on hold for now.
The songs I wrote were almost always sad and melancholic, and maybe I couldn’t take myself seriously enough, whereas with memes everything became much easier on many levels.
AFFERMAZIONI’s posts feel both personal and collective. Where do your “affermazioni” come from? What inspires you?
Affermazioni contains a lot of personal material (sometimes probably too personal), but it’s also true that one of my main sources of inspiration comes from the words and conversations I hear every day when I leave the house, from the most formal to the most trivial ones, like something you overhear in a supermarket or between two elderly people in a park.
There’s almost a constant internal dialogue inside me (I hear voices) and I often get lost entertaining myself by repeating and altering these sentences in my head. It’s my way of taking life lightly and not ruminating solely on negative thoughts.
Besides being a form of escapism, I’m genuinely interested in the way people communicate and in language in general. There are expressions like “ci sta”, “l’importante è questo” that we all share and hear hundreds of times a day, phrases that might not hold any deep meaning, but for some reason they’re always there, taking on their own kind of importance.
Your visuals are essential: trees, cats, suburban corners, small towns, asphalt. How do you choose the images? And is there a reasoning behind the choice of font?
The photos I use in my posts come almost entirely from my camera roll. I like simple images — the kind you might take by accident ,that lend themselves well to being completed with words or small lines of text. Images and text complete each other, so I tend to avoid photos that are too busy or chaotic. I often run out of images, and when I’m out I try to photograph whatever naturally catches my eye : a car, a garden, or a cat, when we’re lucky.
Sometimes, in moments of real image scarcity, I’ve ended up using photos posted in Google reviews, like pictures of a tiny sanctuary in Tuscany taken by visitors ten years ago that nobody remembers anymore.
As for fonts, I tend to use very simple ones like Arial or Times New Roman, something that evokes an idea of common text and blends harmoniously with the images.
Do you see AFFERMAZIONI as a diary, a joke, or a form of visual poetry, or all three of them?
I like to see Affermazioni more as a diary. If I had to post solely to be ironic, I don’t think I would manage to stay consistent or find the motivation to keep going. Looking back at old posts allows me to remember the places I’ve seen and the moods connected to those periods of my life. Of course, many things I post simply make me laugh, and maybe they help me take things less seriously.
Some of your posts sound like private thoughts sent by mistake to the internet. Do you think people connect to that kind of vulnerability?
My goal is always to communicate something. Sometimes I overthink certain ideas so much that they end up making sense only in my head. It really makes me happy when something I perceive as intimate or private is received positively and recognised by others. It makes me feel less alone in what I’m feeling, and maybe even less crazy.
Did you expect the page to be successful ? And how would you describe the AFFERMAZIONI community?
Honestly, I didn’t think the page would grow this much, especially at the beginning. Reaching a thousand followers already felt like a huge milestone.I liked what I was doing, and luckily I got a small amount of feedback right away that encouraged me to continue. I identify a lot with the community, sometimes these are people I’ve formed real friendships with, other times people I don’t know that well but always enjoy interacting with.
Back when I interacted more through stories, for example with question boxes ,it was easier to build a connection with the community. It’s something I’d love to go back to doing more often.
Is there a recurring emotion that influences your creative practice?
My creative process is usually a single session where I put together all the fragments I’ve jotted down in my phone and computer notes.I feel the need to start and finish the work on the same day, which is why creating 15–20 memes usually takes me around three hours (I do this about twice a week). It’s a rather exhausting process, but at the same time very immersive and rewarding. If I managed to spread the work across several days, it would definitely be easier and less tiring. I like listening to music while making memes, or watching YouTube videos.
What is ‘being cryptic‘ like for you?
I usually try not to be cryptic, as I said, I like to communicate and evoke emotions or reflections in the people who see my posts. I think being cryptic is, among other things, a provocative way of communicating: a sort of rebellion against those who always move in the direction of their audience just to please them at all costs.
What’s next for AFFERMAZIONI? Will it stay digital, or do you imagine it evolving in a book, a show, a collective project?
There are many things I’d love to do, but at the same time I struggle to find a clear direction. I tried to outline ideas for a book-archive where the images and words from my first 400 posts could dialogue together, but it’s still a project that needs to take shape. It’s something I’d really like to pursue, also as a way to keep alive all the material I’ve created over the years which, on Instagram, tends to fall into oblivion very quickly. For now, I’ve created a calendar that ran from May to April, and I produced in collaboration with BOLO Paper a Candelario (candle-themed calendar) and a fanzine, both of which I’m very proud of.
I would absolutely love to organise an exhibition one day : it would be a huge accomplishment, and I hope I’ll have the chance to make it happen.
