21 Feb Inside the Soul, the Soul Inside

What is the soul? Do you have some ideas? If yes, it’s great but no one really knows what it is. There are a lot of different beliefs, ideas and hypotheses about this topic, but who has the right answer?

Some people in the course of their life think about what is the soul, but most of us try to avoid it. Why? Because it is a challenging topic, difficult to face, that has no right answers. It makes us question ourselves and our life.

‘Inside the Soul, the Soul Inside’ is the result of research and reflection on this topic. This is a project that has the intention to help people to find their answers (in a fun and playful way) to the questions: ‘What is the soul?’ and ‘How to discover and take care of it? It is a card-based game, that takes the players on a journey to discover their soul. It is an opportunity to take a rest from the nowadays busy life, to have some time to contemplate and find ourselves.

Inside the Soul, the Soul Inside is a game created by three elements: a box, a deck made by illustrated cards and a deck made by transparent cards. 

The illustrated deck contains 16 cards. The front of the cards represents different ideas of the soul that Ilaria collected from her research. The back of the cards represents Ilaria’s hypothesis of what the soul is.

The transparent cards deck contain different pieces of the illustrations created for the first deck that can help the player to create their own idea of the soul.

(This project has been created only for didactic purposes)

How to play the game ‘Inside the soul, the soul inside’?

First step:
What is the soul?
Look at the front of the illustrated cards and reflect upon it. What do the cards represent? Have you ever thought about the soul before? How could it be represented?

Illustrated cards – Front

Second step:
Turn the illustrated cards over and connect them.
This is “The Queen of Life”: the artist’s soul.
Thanks to research and deep reflection, Ilaria managed to represent a hypothesis of what is the soul for her.

Illustrated cards – back

Third step:
Now it is time to create your soul!
Choose some of the transparent cards, use them to create your composition, when you are happy with the result close the box. This is your soul!

Transparent cards

Repeat this meditational activity as much as you like and you will see if your idea of the soul mutates, or remains the same. HAVE FUN!

Sources used to create the collages:

I would like to thank all the photographers (such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Stephen Green-Armytage, Herlinde Koebl, Herb Ritts and so on) who particularly inspired me with their works.

Schrader, D. and Green-Armytage, S. (2008). Extraordinary leaves. Buffalo, NY [u.a.]: Firefly.
Mastalia, F. and Pagano, A. (2000). Dreads. New York: Artisan.
Koelbl, H., Schlink, B., Betancourt Nunez, G. and Schuemmer, S. (2007). Hair. Ostfieldern: Hatje Cantz.
Feinstein, H. (n.d.). One hundred butterflies.
Mapplethorpe, R. and Marshall, R. (1991). Robert Mapplethorpe. London: Secker & Warburg.
Martineau, P. and Crump, J. (2012). Herb Ritts – L. A. style. München: Schirmer/Mosel.
Antonelli, P. (1999). Sitting on the edge. New York: Rizzoli.
Celant, G. and Loughridge, D. (2014). Art or sound. Milano: Fondazione Prada.Tarr, P., Miller, A. and Dalva, N. (2004). Dance 2wice. London: Phaidon.Milstein, J., Boyne, W. and Shanberg, A. (2007). AirCraft. New York, NY: Abrams.Baron, F., Demarchelier, P., Sichy, I. and Koons, J. (2011). Dior couture. New York … [et al.]: Rizzoli.Mapplethorpe, R. and Shange, N. (1996). Black book. Boston: Bullfinch Press/Little, Brown.Demarchelier, P. (2012). Dior couture. New York: Rizzoli.Marent, T. and Jackson, T. (2010). Frog. London: Dorling Kindersley.Earley, C. (2015). Weird birds. [United States]: Firefly Books.Stuppy, W., Harley, M. and Kesseler, R. (2012). The bizarre and incredible world of plants. Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books.Arthus-Bertrand, Y., Gouraud, J. and Arthus-Bertrand, Y. (n.d.). Horses.Viney, C. (1989). London doors. Harpenden: Oldcastle Books.Stuppy, W., Harley, M. and Kesseler, R. (2012). The bizarre and incredible world of plants. Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books.Dzine, Dzine and Dzine (2011). Nailed. Bologna: Damiani.Celant, G. and Mapplethorpe, R. (n.d.). Robert Mapplethorpe.