The project

The project started from the idea of a girl who was abused when she was a child and throughout her adolescence. At 16, after listening to a friend’s story of abuse by an uncle, she found the strength to speak, and went through a criminal trial which unfortunately did not result as she had expected: her abuser’s sentence was reduced to a third, moreover it did not result in imprisonment, but only in disqualifications for two years. No treatment of the offender was considered. After the criminal trial, a civil one took place, which resulted in a compensation corresponding to less than a third of the amount established by a psychological report.

After five years of legal troubles, the girl, by now a young woman of 21 undergoing psychoanalytic therapy, could not bear to endure a further psychological survey to obtain what she had requested, and just asked for compensation for legal expenditures. That was what she got. The money she received was clearly not a reparation for the devastating abuse and was used to pay for legal costs and the therapy that helped her come out of her condition of mental disruption. After finishing her psychoanalysis, she asked herself what she could do to prevent similar abusive acts.

Instead of giving the remaining money to anti-violence centres, she thought of writing a song about her experience that could reach a wide audience and make them aware of child abuse. This is the origin of the song “Fogli di carta” [sheets of paper]. We have composed it both to express the suffering of the girl and to receive some sort justice. The stories of abused children reported in newspapers are fleeting, since they are forgotten the very day they are read, like torn papers. New ones will be read the following day, over and over again. It is as if by tearing the sheets of the papers, we were tearing the stories themselves. This is the main image of our song.

We want to focus on this action by giving voice to the resulting sense of injustice and indifference. Somebody has to listen and understand this voice, otherwise there won’t be any change, only more abuse, more violence and more stories in the news. Whereas the girl had to undergo a long analytic therapy, the abuser has not changed and is free to do what he wants. This is not right. It is a cultural issue: we need to educate, to give birth and cultivate respect towards those who are weak and vulnerable

The law has to change, so that a new life can start from the torn sheets. The song is about the feeling of a woman years after the abuse she suffered as a child , after the trial and the news reported in the papers.

The composition of the song merged a challenging balance of words, music and the actual experience of the girl. In the song we hear the voice of a young woman who has processed her painful experience. The aim of the video clip is to trigger a cultural change bringing about respect and a higher defence of children (both girls and boys). A growing number of people have been involved in the project: very intense moments in the making have encouraged the sharing by the participants of personal experiences of abuse.. The young woman has asked to remain anonymous, we acknowledge and understand her desire.