Through Hardship to the Stars

Photographer Ornella Mari’s debut photobook, Through Hardship to the Stars, is a potent and visceral exploration of girlhood, body image, and the often-turbulent journey toward visibility. Spanning photographic work created between 2020 and 2024, the collection presents a raw and unflinching look at the complexities of self-perception, rendered through a series of striking, often unsettling, images. Bodies populate Mari’s visual landscape, frequently depicted in states of emotional or physical disquiet: mouths agape in protest, knees bearing the marks of struggle, faces streaked with tears, and juxtaposed against the stark realities of snarling dogs, raw meat, and decaying organic matter. This deliberate aesthetic choice serves to underscore the project’s central themes of vulnerability, transformation, and the often-painful process of asserting one’s presence in the world.

At the heart of Mari’s artistic practice lies a profound sense of dislocation, a theme deeply rooted in her personal biography. Born in Brussels to an Italian father and a Hungarian mother, Mari spent her formative years navigating a liminal space between cultures and languages, growing up in Hungary. This upbringing fostered a complex relationship with femininity, which she describes as feeling less like an inherent quality and more like a performance to be meticulously executed. “Femininity never felt like something I naturally possessed. It felt like something I was expected to perform correctly,” Mari admits in the book’s accompanying materials. The creation of Through Hardship to the Stars became a crucial outlet for disentangling her own understanding of womanhood from the prescriptive expectations that had long shaped her perception of herself. This personal quest for self-definition is intrinsically woven into the fabric of the photobook, where Mari’s work oscillates between carefully staged self-portraits and fragmented glimpses of everyday existence that carry significant symbolic weight.

The visual language of Through Hardship to the Stars is characterized by a deliberate juxtaposition of the personal and the universal, the intimate and the stark. Mari masterfully employs a visual lexicon that includes bruised skin, the desolate beauty of icy landscapes, the stark finality of roadkill, and the unsettling decay of carcasses. These elements are often illuminated by the dramatic, almost confrontational, flash of the camera, creating an atmosphere of heightened reality. The human body, and particularly the female form, is constantly under negotiation within these images. It is presented as controlled in some moments, starkly exposed in others, but consistently portrayed as fluid and never entirely static. This visual dynamism reflects the ongoing internal and external pressures that shape identity, especially during adolescence and the transition into adulthood.

The title of the project, Through Hardship to the Stars, is a direct translation of the ancient Latin maxim, Per aspera ad astra. This phrase, often interpreted as a promise of eventual triumph or achievement through struggle, held particular significance for a younger Mari. She viewed the "stars" as representing a future, more self-actualized version of herself, a person who would eventually possess all the answers and navigate life with unwavering certainty. However, as her artistic practice evolved, so too did her understanding of this aspirational concept. “Now I see the stars as moments of self-recognition rather than a destination,” Mari explains, suggesting a shift from an external goal to an internal state of being. This reinterpretation imbues the project with a profound sense of present-moment awareness, emphasizing the value of incremental discoveries and personal breakthroughs over a distant, idealized future.

The genesis of Through Hardship to the Stars can be traced to Mari’s initial discomfort with her own image. The pervasive societal scrutiny of appearance, particularly for women, often leads to a hyper-critical self-assessment. “Whenever I saw a picture of myself, I immediately focused on everything I thought was wrong,” she reveals. Initially, photography served as a coping mechanism, a means of distancing herself from this discomfort rather than confronting it head-on. Mari admits to employing “concepts, mirrors, symbols, and visual tricks” as a way to create a buffer between herself and her own perceived imperfections. The goal was to construct a version of herself that was more palatable, easier to bear witness to. Yet, as the project progressed, a transformation occurred. Mari found herself compelled to move away from these protective layers and towards a more direct, even exposing, confrontation with her body and her sense of self. This evolution marks a critical turning point in her artistic and personal journey, signaling a courageous embrace of vulnerability as a pathway to authenticity.

Beyond the direct portrayal of the human form, Mari strategically incorporates imagery of animals, meat, and dolls to explore complex emotional and psychological territories. The inclusion of animals, such as a striking black horse poised by a tree or a sheep confronting the camera with an unnerving gaze, serves as a powerful metaphorical device. Mari explains her interest in “anthropomorphic qualities and in using animals as emotional stand-ins for human behaviour.” These creatures allow her to delve into themes of instinct, aggression, vulnerability, territoriality, survival, and power dynamics in a manner that transcends a literal depiction of her own experiences. The raw, primal nature of animals offers a potent parallel to the often-untamed emotions and drives that characterize human adolescence and the struggle for self-possession.

Similarly, the recurring motifs of raw meat and dolls occupy an ambiguous space within the photobook, evoking a dual sense of attraction and repulsion. These elements, described by Mari as existing "between tenderness and violence," function as potent metaphors. They allow her to discuss the complexities of the body and its inherent fragility and physicality without resorting to overly literal or explicit visual representations. The dolls, often associated with childhood innocence, can also carry undertones of manipulation or objectification, further complicating the narrative of becoming. The juxtaposition of these seemingly disparate elements creates a rich tapestry of meaning, inviting viewers to engage with the multifaceted nature of identity and societal perceptions of the female body.

The critical reception and contextualization of Mari’s work are further enhanced by an essay penned by Emily Dinsdale, Dazed’s Art & Photography Editor, titled "The Hour Between the Dog & the Wolf." This insightful piece situates Mari’s photographic exploration within a broader cultural discourse surrounding sexual consciousness, shame, and the unique challenges of adolescence. Dinsdale eloquently captures the liminal state of youth, stating, “Being a teenage girl is its own kind of statelessness. It’s a time of perilous metamorphosis when we are neither child nor woman but a third thing.” This reflection underscores the universal resonance of Mari’s project, suggesting that while her work is rooted in deeply personal experiences, it ultimately speaks to a more expansive and shared truth about the journey of femininity and the adolescent passage. The essay serves as a crucial bridge, connecting the individual artistic vision to wider societal and psychological narratives.

The release of Through Hardship to the Stars represents a significant milestone for Ornella Mari, marking the culmination of years of introspective work and artistic development. The act of fixing these deeply personal experiences within the tangible pages of a published book signifies a transition from private exploration to public presentation. For Mari, this transition is both exhilarating and daunting. “If someone recognises a part of themselves in these images, then the project has done something meaningful beyond my own story,” she states, articulating a desire for her work to foster connection and shared understanding. The process of releasing the book into the world is described as “terrifying and liberating in almost equal measure,” a sentiment that aptly mirrors the project’s central themes. It is a fitting conclusion to a body of work born from the anxieties and aspirations associated with becoming visible, a process that inherently involves navigating the unpredictable terrain of how one is perceived by others, without ever having complete control over that perception. The enduring power of Through Hardship to the Stars lies in its unflinching honesty and its profound ability to articulate the complex, often arduous, but ultimately star-bound journey of self-discovery.