Born to an Italian father and a French mother, Stefano Giuseppe Alaimo grew up in Antananarivo, Madagascar. This multicultural upbringing laid the foundation for Stefano’s artistic journey. From a young age, he was passionate about drawing and language, which developed in a diverse environment where multiple layers of symbols, languages, and communication intersected. This sparked his lifelong quest to create a universal language through art, leading to his fascination with symbols.
Stefano studied literature, art history, and philosophy in Toulouse before moving to Paris, where he graduated in 2011 as a graphic communications and multimedia designer. His time in Paris was a period of extensive personal and professional growth, gaining experience in various roles such as tour guide, actor, web developer, babysitter, supermarket sales representative, waiter, model for drawing lessons, and translator. Currently, Stefano works as a freelance graphic designer and developer, primarily in the web field, and explores various other media as an artist.
Since 2016, Stefano has been living and working between Paris and Berlin, immersing himself in yet another cultural milieu and bringing his proficiency in spoken languages to four. Besides human languages, Stefano also has a knack for communicating with machines and animals.
Artistic Approach
This variegated context gave Stefano a particular talent for creating bridges and networks between languages, techniques, people, concepts. As a multidisciplinary artist, Stefano’s practice is rooted in Drawing, which he has enriched with techniques like screen-printing, video, object creation, installations, photography, FX, and interactive images. His primary materials are ink, paper, computers, and time, with some projects maturing over years before reaching their final form.
Stefano’s artistic vision is deeply influenced by his upbringing in the Indian Ocean. His mother, hailing from Réunion, a small island 300 km east of Madagascar, and his childhood experiences in Madagascar exposed him to a vibrant mix of Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism, and Animism. This collision of beliefs fostered a rich tapestry of sub-superstitions, where black magic, enchantments, and communication with the dead were part of the cultural underground. Stefano grew up believing in Jesus, Hindu gods, and ghosts living among us or in objects.
From an animist perspective, every atom of matter is imbued with spirit. Some objects are believed to possess souls. In Japan, for instance, it is thought that a beautifully crafted, enduring object becomes a refuge for spirits, perhaps a testament to the love embodied in its creation. Similarly, in Madagascar, people carve wooden memories of their loved ones, infusing these objects with their love and memories, making them charged with meaning.
In contemporary European culture, such phenomena are often linked to spirituality and religion through Art. An art piece is the residue of a process—a performance of body and spirit. Whether it’s a painting, sculpture, piece of music, or a book, art pieces are charged objects, brimming with emotions, feelings, and meanings. An art piece is said to have the power to reveal new worlds to its audience, containing a spark of miracle, event, or magic.
Stefano’s creations should be viewed in this light: as enchanted objects, each carrying its own unique charge and story.
(Photo: Vincent Roux)