We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lunna Pigatto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lunna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Back in 2017 I was studying Design Strategy in Italy and was influenced by art and design. During this time I began to take pictures of banana peels that I found thrown on the ground in the city of Milano. I started registering my encounters and used the banana peels (sometimes other fruits and vegetables) to talk about art and poetry which led me to find new meanings for sustainability.
The first picture I photographed and posted on Instagram was in March of 2017 which led to an invitation to work directly with creative director Megan Mair in New York. During this time she was inspired by my creativity and uniqueness for storytelling on the concept of sustainability. I took her words as advice and from there it all unfolded.
The banana pictures are now an art & design project called VAINANA.
In March of 2017 I was selected to become a climate shaper for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and was approved for a scholarship.
Through the UN Network I was connected to Dr. Francesca Zampollo which led VAINANA to be featured in a book, ‘Food Design Voices 2022’.
At this point, I knew there was still a bigger and broader objective. I wanted to influence more people on sustainability through the work of my art. Here we are today at VAINANA’s first art exhibit at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.
Lunna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Lunna, I’m Brasilian with a S, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. My father was born in the State of Amazonas and my mother in an Italian colony in the south of Brasil.
I have always been the creative mind in both families, the one with a nonlinear journey, the world explorer, the status quo questioner, the black sheep.
My professional background is in Social Communication, Branding and Strategic Design.
I’m also a holistic healer and have been studying spirituality and meditation techniques for over a decade.
I believe the combination of all of these led me to where I’m at now in terms of work and my artistic project. VAINANA is the manifestation of my deepest values.
With VAINANA I aim to expose the food waste issue in a disruptive way by promoting insightful and thought-provoking self-reflection on sustainability.
At the current moment my medium is digital photography.
What sets me and VAINANA apart is the creative way in which I use storytelling to address global issues, food insecurity and waste, and climate change.
I’m mostly proud of being a Climate Shaper for the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
There is absolutely a mission driving my creative journey. I use my project to bring awareness about food waste and environmental sustainability we face globally. My mission and purpose is to enable every single individual, who gets in contact with my art, to know that through their own authenticity, exploring mediums that resonate with their personal skill set, they too can tackle the food waste issue, or other issues that they care about.
I believe that creativity, art, and exploration of self-passions and values is the easiest way to solve the big issues our society is being challenged with in regards to food waste and environmental sustainability.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I’d like to answer this question by first considering if the struggle would be for the non-creatives to understand, or for the creatives to deal with being misunderstood.
To me the acceptance of the nonlinearity of the creative mind, therefore, the creative journey, plays the main role in it.
I also deeply believe that there is no such thing as a non-creative person, there might be dormant creativity in those who are not exploring it in a more active way, but never non-existent creativity.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/vainana_
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lunnapigatto/
Image Credits
Food Design Voices 2022 by Francesca Zampollo Ph.D. this is the title for the screenshot picture