“Un Mondo Proprio” by Elena Bianca Zagari

In Naples, Catholic symbolism-above all the image of the Virgin Mary -permeates the city. Shrines appear on corners, balconies, and walls, quietly imposing ideals of purity, sacrifice, and silence. Within this atmosphere, women have long been told how to behave, how to dress, and when to speak. Yet beneath these weighty expectations lies another narrative: one of refusal, reinvention. and agency. I was drawn to capture the fragile yet powerful ways in which women carve out their own spaces of freedom. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and nightclubs become alternate worlds where they reclaim their bodies and identities, away from the noise of the male-dominated street. The rituals of dressing, applying makeup, and adorning themselves with glitter and color are not frivolous gestures – they are acts of resistance, statements of presence. a way of saying: I exist.