GV635[vs] Divoratori
An artistic project by Valeria Fondi
Created in 2014, GV635[vs] Divoratori is a photographic project by Italian artist Valeria Fondi, exploring the theme of spiritual hunger through a series of deeply symbolic and three-dimensional images, inspired by chapter 6 of John’s gospel. The visual journey investigates various forms of inner emptiness and hollow religiosity that, while appearing to offer spiritual solutions, fail to nourish the soul or bring it peace. The photographs confront modern dependencies — wealth, the obsession with luxury, and media idolatry — ultimately portraying the extreme consequences of an unquenched hunger: disorientation, isolation, and madness.
The project culminates in two images inspired by the Song of Songs, where a woman, exhausted and seated in the shadows with open hands, surrenders after a long and futile search. It is in the heart of the night that she encounters Jesus, the Bridegroom of her soul. Her face, darkened by mud — a symbol of sin’s obscuration — is illuminated as Christ draws near. A living flame glows in her eyes, the sign of revelation beginning to take hold within her. That light is Christ, the Redeemer of her soul — the one who nourishes and brings peace to all who earnestly seek Him.
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Artist Biography
Valeria Fondi is an Italian artist and author whose creative journey began shortly after high school with the study of Scripture. A profound encounter with the Gospel has left an indelible mark on her life and motivated her to passionately explore foundational biblical principles, which now form the core of her artistic expression.
From this spiritual exploration have emerged various projects, including the poetry collection Blooming Love and the photographic cycle GV635[vs] Divoratori, a series focused on the soul’s hunger. This visual project debuted in 2014 at Open Art House in Ivrea, and is now being presented for the first time in the United States at Luz Art Gallery in New York. In 2015, she published the artistic manifesto The Language of Heaven, a reflection on the urgency of using contemporary visual language to transform Italy’s collective imagination around the figure of Christ. The text is enriched with contributions from artists of the SVA group in Milan, with whom she collaborated for several years.
Before moving to Venice, she published her first biblical study book, Face to Face with the King, in which she describes twelve one‑to‑one encounters between Jesus and ordinary men and women, each conveying a spiritual principle from His Kingdom. She is currently working on her first novel, dedicated to the spiritual realm and the language of the Spirit.
