To Pippa Bacca

Italian artist, Pippa Bacca, planned a journey starting out from Italy to Jerusalem and from there on to Lebanon “to draw attention to countries that are victims of wars in the Middle East and to make a contribution to peace”. She set out from Italy for the Balkans dressed in a white wedding dress symbolizing innocence and reminiscent of the clothing of her Roman ancestors. This was not a journey undertaken in a private car. She was to hitchhike through the countries on her route. On the road to peace she wanted to get to know people of different countries and their cultures, and was going to carry small gifts for them along the way to her destination, Jerusalem. She passed safely through the Balkan countries and reached Istanbul. She had to continue her journey and after Istanbul she hitched a new ride in Gebze. As she got in, she had no idea what was going to happen to her….

A malcontent man who had no concept of treating a woman as a human being raped and then killed her. He destroyed an envoy of peace, an artist. Pippa Bacca must have set off on her journey without imagining such a possibility, but it happened. 

Many women are against war and long for peace. But not every woman can put on a wedding dress and set off on the road like Pippa Bacca. With her heart full of the desire for peace Pippa Bacca embodied the voice of courage of many women. Her body and soul were destroyed, and this act wounded the souls of many women. Her pain was added to the pain of other innocent women who have lost their lives in these lands. 

As long as the men who walk side by side with women are put down and held in contempt in this world, and especially in these lands where men and women are kept apart and forced to live different lives, it seems as though such incidents will be perpetuated. In Turkey male-female relations and the view of women are being gradually degraded. As long as women and men are unable to come together and talk in sincerity as people, as sisters and brothers, I’m concerned that there will be more such incidents. And this is a fear that has grown over recent years.

Italian performance artist Pippa Bacca, whose real name was Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, was unable to complete her “peace journey” and paid for this enterprise of good intentions with her life.

She did not deserve such a fate. This was no ordinary act of destruction. It is a blow to Turkey’s contemporary arts environment, which is already beleagured with various problems.

Pippa Bacca; as long as injustice remains, there will always be women like you singing songs of peace.

İmren Çalışkan Tüzün

Translation by Valerie Needham