Onni dv is driven by a desire for elsewhere, for discovering the world. She seeks to understand and portray society in all its complexity and flaws. She seizes every opportunity to learn, grow, and share. She draws inspiration from reading, exhibitions, cinema, and anything that can sharpen her perspective.
During her studies, she fully devoted herself to analog photography, learning how to convey her vision.
However, the fixed nature of photography quickly became limiting. She wanted to highlight what happens before and after the captured moment. She needed to bring back movement, to express more. She returned to her first love: video.
Her films became the primary medium for sharing her narratives—stories about our societies in their coherent absurdities. Everyday stories, strikingly ordinary yet harmoniously unbalanced. A journey filled with obstacles in a world shaped by exacerbated patriarchy – our world.
Starting from her personal observations and moving toward a broader analysis of our ways of living, Onni addresses relationships of domination those that remain invisible, yet deeply rooted since time immemorial.
To understand their origins, she seeks to connect current events with traditional beliefs, focusing particularly on Greek mythology. Through myths that depict the omnipotence of certain entities over others who have no choice but to submit.
She revisits myths such as Prometheus or Zeus and applies them to contemporary characters to explore what has changed – or not. From these stories, she addresses the normalization of rape, the admiration for multiple conquests – whether consensual or not – and the logic of moving from one body to another without much regard.
In “Zeus Today”, she draws from the myth of Zeus and Europa, in which the god transforms into a white bull to abduct and rape Europa. Zeus becomes a man in a suit and tie, a boxer in the storm among cows. He embodies power through force, the dominance of an unapologetic masculinism. Aggressive gazes, clenched fists, a will to dominate and subjugate – set in ordinary contexts that reveal their absurdity.
In her work, Onni seeks to create dialogue between objects, bodies, and spaces, each giving meaning to the other. Each film is conceived as a complete environment in which the viewer can immerse themselves. Sculptures, performances, and installations enrich the sounds and images, creating an intense and captivating experience.
From notes in her notebook to final production, Onni gives full attention to every stage of her films. She is involved in all aspects of creation: framing, set design, makeup, costumes, post-production, and casting. The actors she selects are given significant freedom of interpretation, creating an exchange between the performer, the character, and the director.
At Motoco, Onni shares her studio with her collaborator, Tom Grignard, who regularly works on the musical and sound compositions for her films.
