Damien Cifelli

My works exist entirely within their own fictional environment – the world of ‘Tarogramma’. I use fictional anthropology, through storytelling, to build a place with its own culture, iconography, behaviors, and traditions. The paintings are a visual representation of this alternative society – documentation of a new world.

Inspired by personal histories, ancestral stories, and recent collective experiences, I have created a place with no ethnic, cultural, or gender dominance. It suggests the idea of a society where the eccentricity and distinct character of people take precedence over other superficial attributes. Tarogramma is a world distilled down into the simplest necessities – human connection and a sense of community. Values that have become infinitely more important in recent times.