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Her first novel, Cercando Lindiwe, is set in South Africa during apartheid and the diaspora between the early ‘60s and 1994. The novel revolves around themes of exile, identity, and the possibility or impossibility of return. Among her books: Il Viaggio capovolto (Epoché), L'Ottava Nota (Prospettiva), The Cut/Lo Strappo (Kabiliana), Il mondo a colori della famiglia BwanaVal (EMI), Jabuni. Il mistero della città sommersa (EMI), Amani. I Nomi della pace (EMI), Io...donna ...immigrata... volere dire scrivere (EMI).
“I started writing as I became an immigrant in my own native country. It has been one of the most overwhelming experiences in my life, having to negotiate new relationships, and a different culture, not to mention the struggles of who feels like a stranger. Writing provided me the tool to translate my life making me realize that we are more than one thing, that our identity is multiple and metamorphic.
Io…donna…immigrata… / I… immigrant… woman … has been on stage in various productions since 2005. In 2021, a short film based on the play was produced and presented at several film festivals, including the Socially Relevant Film Festival, Il Cairo Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival, and Harlem Film Festival. Trailer.
The Cut/Lo Strappo is a play that raises awareness about Female Genital Mutilation, produced in 2012 as part of an 8-month workshop with a South African collective of undocumented immigrant women from different African countries, known as Gugu Women Lab. It has received the support of Amnesty for its value of pinpointing the impact this practice has on the world using the language of art. On the same subject, she wrote the essay "The Cut-Lo Strappo," which is a detailed and in-depth research about Female Genital Mutilation.
Siamo Arcipelaghi is a text that interrogates the very notion of what it means to be human today and how we envision our future.
STORYTELLER ADVOCATE
As an artist specializing in textile storytelling, she uses tactile materials to evoke sensorial experiences. She uses textile storytelling (the arpillera) to create community, empower refugees, build a sense of identity, and map people's life journeys. Each stitch becomes a way to reflect, process, and give shape to personal histories, using fabric and thread to turn memories into visual storytelling. She works in diasporic contexts wth immigrants, refugees, GBV/FGM survivors, and people in prison.
She designed two projects, such as Transcultural Dialogues/ Dialoghi Transculturali and We are Archipelagos/Siamo Arcipelaghi, through which she advocates as a storyteller empowering communities, educators, social operators, and stakeholders. Her advocacy draws upon the contributions of Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha, which are fundamentally supported by the ideas of 'unlearning privilege' and 'inhabiting the third space.'
EDUCATOR
Valentina Acava is also a progressive educator with 27 years of experience working with children worldwide, teaching, inspiring, and empowering children and adults to create systematic change in their lives. She has an extended platform of transcultural workshops for children, youth, and adults, and designs diverse educational programs based on Textile Storytelling with a focus on cultural and social issues.
