Looking for Edmonia (a Roman ghost story) is a self-published photo essay in three chapters printed as newspaper tabloids where Torres visualise’s the mysterious, the intangible and the idea of being haunted by the 19th century American Sculptress Mary Edmonia Lewis; the first known woman of African and Native American heritage to achieve international fame and recognition in the fine arts world.
In Rome where Lewis lived and had her studio Torres re-imagines her presence. From the Bridge of Angels adorned with towering angels to Lewis’s studio on Via Canova, located in the dusty pink orange atelier of the 18th century sculptor Andrea Canova and finally to the deliriously majestic decaying splendour that is the Borghese Gardens Torres is guided by an overwhelming sense of emotion as she wanders in Lewis’s footsteps imagining what was life like in19th century Rome for a female sculptress of color.
I yearn to find you. I yearn to hear you. I yearn to ask… how did you do it?
