THE ALPHABET:
FIRST BREATH
“We cannot build a new world without a new language.”
INGEBORG BACHMANN
CONCEPT
LOCATION: Porte Rosse, Rome
DATES: 07 - 12.07.2026
the Alphabet: First Breath started from one decision: design the show around what the visitor actually experiences, not just what they see. That meant letting people touch the work, a choice that sounds small until you notice how rarely it's made.
Across the space, pieces built from photography and mixed media trace something closer to a language forming than a finished statement, hence the title. Rome, and Porte Rosse's intimate footprint, gave the show room to feel handled rather than displayed.
NANA ran the full production pipeline end to end: printing and vendor sourcing across Rome and Paris, custom passe-partout from Roman artisans, and adhesive mirror sourcing in San Lorenzo, down to the material-level decisions (prespaziato, vitrophanie, Forex panels) that hold a show like this together.
On the communications side: a full press kit, Italian and English press releases, a dedicated sales page, and a 34-page catalogue, backed by multilingual outreach in Italian, French and English to press, curators, tourism agencies, collectors and institutional contacts.
THE ALPHABET
the Alphabet is a visual language composed of 26 photographs, 26 letters, and 26 female presences. In each image, Pauline Faieff’s nude body traces the shape of a letter. Each one is paired with a woman’s name and a poetic phrase. Image, name, and text overlap without ever fully explaining one another.
Yet the project’s singularity lies in its genesis: these letters were not constructed by the artist. They were discovered.
For eight months, she works alone, across three sessions in which no make-up, artificial lighting, or staging is used.
Nearly 500 photographs are produced. Gradually, 26 forms emerge, composing an entire alphabet, revealed retrospectively through the folds, tensions, and movements of the body. This gesture recalls the phenomenological epoché: the suspension of what we think we know in order to allow what was already there to appear differently. Here, Pauline Faieff suspends the conventional representations of the female body, so often desired, judged, censored, and corrected, to return to a presence that precedes these imposed meanings.
Each visitor is invited to lift the letters of the Alphabet to discover the poem associated with each one. Through this gesture, they become an active participant in the exhibition.
Letter A
La résilience
/ʁe.zi.ljɑ̃s/
nom féminin
(pl. résiliences)
To thank each hindered step for what it has revealed.
Letter I
L'audace
/o.das/
nom féminin
(pl. audaces)
To dare authenticity in a masked world.
Letter J
La quiétude
/kje.tyd/
nom féminin
(pl. quiétudes)
To soothe tensions in a world ignited by egocentricity.
Letter E
La fragilité
/fʁa.ʒi.li.te/
nom féminin
(pl. fragilités)
To marvel at the strength of being weak.
Letter F
La bienveillance
/bjɛ̃.vɛ.jɑ̃s/
nom féminin
(pl. bienveillances)
To ignite one’s own light to radiate toward others.
Letter L
La rédemption
/ʁe.dɑ̃p.sjɔ̃/
nom féminin
(pl. rédemptions)
To forgive oneself for not knowing how to love oneself.
COLLABORATIV PERFORMANCE
Performance protocol:
Step 1: Write yourself a letter of love, encouragement, or gratitude.
Step 2: Place it in an envelope.
Step 3: Choose another envelope and leave with the words of a stranger.
MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS
‘La rédemption’ (Letter L, the Alphabet), acquired by Digital Francisco Carolinum / OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, Linz (Austria)
“We cannot build a new world without a new language.”
INGEBORG BACHMANN
PRESS ARTICLES
Il Messaggero – Il corpo che torna a parlare: Pauline Faieff porta a Roma The Alphabet: First Breath
Arte.it – The Alphabet: First Breath
Corriere dello Spettacolo – Roma, a Porte Rosse debutta The Alphabet: First Breath di Pauline Faieff: il corpo diventa linguaggio visivo
The Gram Journal – The Body Becomes an Alphabet: Pauline Faieff Makes Her Debut in Rome
Tuscia Times – Roma, a San Lorenzo la mostra The Alphabet: First Breath di Pauline Faieff
Panzoo – Pauline Faieff: The Alphabet: First Breath
Prima Notizia 24 – A Roma arriva The Alphabet: First Breath: il corpo diventa linguaggio nella mostra di Pauline Faieff
Narranto – Roma, al via la mostra The Alphabet: First Breath di Pauline Faieff
Le Finestre di Parigi – The Alphabet: First Breath di Pauline Faieff
Cavaliere News – The Alphabet: First Breath: a Roma arriva il nuovo progetto artistico di Pauline Faieff
Spotlight – The Alphabet: First Breath
Terza Pagina Magazine – Roma, a San Lorenzo la mostra The Alphabet: First Breath di Pauline Faieff
Fatti Italiani – Roma, San Lorenzo: la mostra The Alphabet
Blogshifts – Il corpo come alfabeto: a Roma si inaugura The Alphabet: First Breath di Pauline Faieff
La Cronaca di Roma – L’arte da attraversare: Pauline Faieff e il respiro della comunità romana
InItaly – Mostre a Roma: cosa vedere nel weekend di luglio 2026
RomaToday – The Alphabet: First Breath, la mostra
Objects Mag – Il corpo come alfabeto poetico di Pauline Faieff
Spotlight – The Alphabet: First Breath
OPENING
BACKSTAGES
