Visual Audiobook by Luca M. Damiani

View the audiobook on Issuu in English, French, Italian and Spanish here.

With so much worry, hardship and for some deep sorrow everywhere, it can feel useless and even unnecessary to keep making art; but maybe it is even more important than usual, that we do so. This is a period full of anxiety, of isolation, of distance between families and between friends; it is a moment in time of pain and worries in terms of emotions, health, finances as well as what the future might bring. But as difficult as it can be, it feels even more important to try and keep hope and love at the centre of our thoughts and our days.

And so, I created the story of Nonna Maria during the first three months of the global outbreak of the Coronavirus Covid-19 in 2020. I have used illustration, graphic design, music, sound and storytelling to create a piece that connects with concepts of Social Design and Arts & Health during this strange and difficult time we are all living in. It is an artistic response to the current health crisis, underlining the importance of creative narrative as a mitigating response to the stress and the anxiety that we are all facing.

The visual audiobook was created in collaboration with my good friend and brilliant composer and musician Riz Maslen, who created all the sound and music, bringing the audiobook to life in a new way, and with my partner Elizabeth Lucy Wells who works for a NHS Mental Health Trust in Sussex as the Lead for Arts & Health, and who worked with me both in editing the book and the video-editing of the visual audiobook. My wonderful nephew and young artist, Nicola DeBenedittis, also helped me with the illustrations whilst doing an internship within my art-practice.

This is a story for everyone, everywhere and I do hope you will enjoy it and share it.

Luca M Damiani is a Media Artist and an Associate Lecturer Graphic & Media Design at the University of the Arts in London. His current research focuses on the role of arts & design in health, neuroscience and neuro-otology. A published artist-author of several books and academic articles, Luca has also collaborated with many prominent organisations, such as Computer Arts Society, Mozilla Foundation, Framestore, The Walt Disney Company, NGO Amnesty International, BBC, TATE, V&A, and the Hearing Health Foundation.