Among a pile of rubbish in my cousin’s backyard I found a toilet bowl. A toilet bowl that my cousin had thrown away. He renovated his bathroom. I carried this domestic object out into a field in Settimo Torinese. A field of grass for the cows to eat. una bella giornata a work about shitting in a toilet bowl out in a field on a sunny day. This is my definition of liberation. A liberating experience which awakens the senses. Warm and cool sensations. This work plays on private experiences in public spaces. A moment of solitude, a moment in time that we are all familiar with. Doing a shit is one of the most satisfying moments in life. Shitting in a field attempts to take out in the open a private moment. This work is born from a series of memories and stories I have grown up with.

Perhaps a childhood memory, my first creation a turd. A story my mother told me, the day she found me in the cot playing with my poo, making patterns with it, on the sheets, sheets printed with images of the seven dwarfs.

A toilet bowl in the field is a setting for a video which attempts to expose a private moment, reminding us of the sensations of bodily process a natural process.

Our body is a vessel, a container of emotions, imprints and impressions of the past – these impressions can manifest themselves in a physical way. I attempt to evoke this in my work as a means of expression. Stories of a personal journey, with universal resonance.

To make this work I drew inspiration from experiences I have had growing up with a schizophrenic father, he is an important figure in my life and my artmaking. One day my father blocked his toilet with shit, plastic bags and a deflated soccer ball when he had a lapse, with his illness.

I had arranged a plumber to come to his home and unblock his toilet. A surreal experience to say the least.

I have been going on train trips from Milan to Torino to photograph and video this work.

There is a road opposite the field, cars pass by as I sit on the toilet and contribute to the soil beneath me. I can hear the birds, the cars pass by, the cool breeze blowing on my legs and bare bum and a cool sensation on my skin from the contact of the toilet bowl. The scenery, a picturesque place the grass is green, in the background there are trees, mountains and houses.

This video films the presence of the toilet, a universal symbol, in the field. una bella giornata captures any natural and manmade elements that spontaneously appear in the scene birds flying past, sounds of traffic passing, people passing by.

una bella giornata explores biographical issues however it is also an invitation for the viewer to reflect on the simple pleasures in life and our daily rituals.