by Lisa Borgiani
Telling the story of Europe through Europe.
“What is Europe to you?” is the photographic narrative in the making of the artist Lisa Borgiani who has been traveling to the main European cities and capitals since 2019 asking, to each person portrayed, a question:
What is Europe to you?
An exhibition designed not only to be seen but above all shared and experienced that sees to date 1500 portraits and feelings made in Athens, Milan, Rome, Berlin, Budapest, Baltic countries, Malta, Strasbourg, Bonn Dresden, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Krakow, New York, London and now in Podgorica and 1000 self-portraits of the people who are actively participating in the project.
Each visitor is invited to participate in the artist’s work by leaving “on these walls a photographic trace of your passage” – to quote the title of a work by Franco Vaccari – in two ways: in the exhibition they can print and exhibit, thanks to the WEYWALL digital platform, their own self-portrait accompanied by a thought that expresses their feeling about Europe. In each city, Lisa Borgiani has chosen to photograph the inhabitants of the neighborhoods that go from the center to the suburbs in order to offer a diversified and significant social cross-section capable of highlighting multiple feelings: “The people involved are always chosen at random, perhaps while walking down the street, and this to get an immediate response from them, spontaneous, almost instinctive,” explains the author.
Each work consists of a photograph of the people interviewed (often also highlighting the urban or residential context in which they were located), the name of the person photographed, their profession, the place where the shot was taken, a keyword that summarizes their idea of Europe and a phrase that explains its meaning.
What is Europe to you? It is an artistic journey in search of feelings, which is expressed through a dialogue between images and words of each individual encountered without any distinction of nationality, sex, profession, religious belief, social and cultural background. The texts, alongside the portraits, therefore function as “voices” that express the feelings about Europe expressed by the people photographed.
During the exhibition planned for the Eu Fair which will be organised at the University Park at Podgorica within the framework of the Europe Day celebration 2026. Visitors of the EU Fair are invited and involved to participate in the project. They too will be asked the same question: What is Europe to you? The collected feelings will be published online and displayed during the exhibition (in collage format) in a dedicated space called WEYWALL.
In 2024 four Ukrainian photographers, members of UAPP – Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers – have been invited by Lisa Borgiani to do this project in Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv, following the same format. The exhibition features some selected portraits by Mykhaylo Palinchak, Olga Kovalova, Katya Moskalyuk and Tim Melnikov.
About the artist:
Lisa Borgiani is an artist who lives and works in Milan. She was born in Verona, 1979.
Her work ranges from photography, installations and mobile sculptures. She has exhibited in various galleries, museums, international art fairs and public institutions: La Triennale di Milano, Embassy of Italy in Washington D.C., European Parliament in Brussels, Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, London, Singapore and others. For several years she has collaborated with architects, researchers, Italian and American universities, directors and economists.
For more information visit “What is Europe to you?” website.