Autoritratto con un migliaio di carpe o vecchia fame

This self-portrait uses the depiction of carps, a common subject in Japanese traditional painting to convey a dramatic topic. At first sight It could be understood as the destruction of nature or environment by Man, but in fact, the story treats on how political and global crisis affect the life of an entire nation. Hunger is the theme here. The drawing is presented with two different texts. On the upper side appears the announcement of the terrible "concentration" promulgated by Spaniard General Waleriano Weyler to inhabitants in Cuban rural areas during the Independence war in colonial times. The other text down reads about the large period of economical crisis as a result of the collapse of the former Soviet Union. In both situations, starvation was brutal.