After Us

After us (2025)

We live in a time marked by a constant sense of instability: wars, the climate crisis, fragile political systems, technologies beyond our control. The future is no longer just a promise: it has become an unknown, at times a threat.

Amid all this, one question keeps returning: what will we leave behind?

Not only in ecological or economic terms, but in cultural, symbolic, and human ones.

What will remain, after us?

After Us attempts to explore the invisible boundary between life and death, questioning what remains of us beyond the end.

The project began following an artist residency at the Archaeological Museum of the Musei Oliveriani in Pesaro, in collaboration with Centrale Fotografia. The idea developed from my interest in the Necropolis of Novilara and in the way its artefacts tell the stories of past lives, particularly those of women, through the objects that accompanied them into the grave.

However, my research took an unexpected and deeply personal direction: my artist residency at the Musei Oliveriani coincided with my father’s brief illness and his death. This dual experience, both personal and artistic, reinforced an essential question for me: what remains of us after death?

In the Picene burial grounds, objects tell stories. Each artefact represents a fragment of identity, culture, art, and belonging.

But today, in our funerary rituals, there is nothing that truly speaks of who we are. What would happen if, thirty centuries from now, someone were to look at our graves? Our rituals contain no explicit references to our culture, our society, our art, and, above all, our identity.

Death has become a taboo, something to be hidden and kept out of sight. We die in hospitals, in sterile and anonymous spaces, deprived of ritual and of a connection with the community. The removal of death from everyday life has made it more difficult to confront its meaning, while in ancient cultures the relationship with death was more direct, symbolic, and communal.

This project seeks to bring our gaze back to that boundary, connecting past and present, the personal and the universal, what we are and what we leave behind. It seeks to restore a sense of continuity in which objects and remains become traces of lives that have never truly disappeared, even though they are fragments incapable of conveying the complexity of a life, charged with the tension between what remains and what disappears.

The question running through the project is more urgent today than ever, and it is a collective one: are we still leaving something of ourselves behind? What culture will survive the collapse we fear?

This work does not seek to offer answers, but to create a space for reflection.

Because forgetting how to leave a trace is also the first step towards truly disappearing.

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Viviamo in un’epoca attraversata da un senso costante di instabilità: guerre, crisi climatica, sistemi politici fragili, tecnologie fuori controllo. Il futuro non è più solo una promessa: è diventato un’incognita, talvolta una minaccia.

In mezzo a tutto questo, c’è una domanda che ritorna: cosa lasceremo?

Non solo in senso ecologico o economico, ma in termini culturali, simbolici, umani.

Cosa resterà, dopo di noi?

Con After us si tenta di esplorare il confine invisibile tra la vita e la morte, interrogandoci su ciò che rimane di noi oltre la fine.

Il progetto nasce a seguito della residenza artistica presso il museo archeologico dei Musei Oliveriani di Pesaro, con la collaborazione di Centrale Fotografia.

L’idea si sviluppa dal mio interesse per la Necropoli di Novilara e per il modo in cui i suoi reperti raccontano vite passate, in particolare quelle delle donne, attraverso gli oggetti che le accompagnavano nel sepolcro.

Tuttavia, la mia ricerca ha preso una direzione inaspettata e profondamente personale: il mio periodo di residenza artistica presso i Musei Oliveriani ha coinciso con la breve malattia di mio padre e la sua morte. Questa doppia esperienza, personale e artistica, ha rafforzato in me una domanda essenziale: cosa rimane di noi dopo la morte?

Nei sepolcreti piceni, gli oggetti raccontano storie. Ogni reperto rappresenta un frammento di identità, cultura, arte e appartenenza.

Ma oggi, nei nostri riti funebri, non c'è nulla che parli davvero di noi. Cosa accadrebbe se tra 30 secoli qualcuno osservasse le nostre sepolture? Nei nostri riti non vi sono riferimenti espliciti alla nostra cultura, alla nostra società, alla nostra arte, e soprattutto alla nostra identità.

La morte è diventata un tabù, qualcosa da nascondere e allontanare dagli occhi. Moriamo negli ospedali, in spazi asettici e anonimi, privati della ritualità e della connessione con la comunità. La rimozione della morte dalla quotidianità ha reso più difficile affrontarne il significato, mentre nelle culture antiche il rapporto con la morte era più diretto, simbolico e comunitario.

Questo progetto si propone di restituire uno sguardo su quel confine, mettendo in relazione il passato e il presente, il personale e l’universale, tra ciò che siamo e ciò che lasciamo, restituendo un senso di continuità in cui gli oggetti e i resti diventano tracce di esistenze mai davvero scomparse, sebbene frammenti incapaci di restituire la complessità di una vita, e carichi della tensione tra ciò che rimane e ciò che scompare.

La domanda che lo attraversa è oggi più urgente che mai, ed è collettiva: stiamo ancora lasciando qualcosa di noi? Che cultura sopravviverà al collasso che temiamo?

Questo lavoro non vuole offrire risposte, ma creare uno spazio per pensare.

Perché dimenticare come si lascia una traccia è anche il primo passo per scomparire davvero.

The ancient goddess

2025, from the series After Us

Large-scale photographic image on textile (variable dimensions)

Holding time

2025, 40x60cm, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, edition 3 + 1AP

I left the light in, 2025

After Us, Trittico
2025, 60x30cm, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, framed, museum glass, edition 3 + 1AP

After Us, Panel II, Trittico

2025, 20x30cm, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, framed, museum glass, edition 3 + 1AP

"After The first look" The Pasticheur: Literature, Art, & Ideas (Vol 42, Special Issue: Voices that Vanish, ISSN 2837-2395)

Susanna Fiona Murray "This is all there is" Mrs.Hollow and other stories,( 23 aprile 2026)

exhibition photography: Onirico Studio ph.

The Dianara

The Dianara, (2022-)

The idea came from a recent news event where a young mother, who had killed her little girl, had been defined as a Monster.

I observed how it is common to find a host of malevolent and monstrous female figures in popular myths and I deepened the study of Dianara or Janara, a witch of Sannita folklore known from Benevento to the whole territory of Upper Sannio, where I was born. The Janara is a woman who is a devoted mother and wife by day, but by night she transforms and enters homes to punish those who have done her a slight, killing their children or attacking pregnant women.

The stereotype of the woman dedicated to the role of care and sacrifice is deeply rooted. But this difficulty in accepting other female roles and their shadows prevents us from accepting the complexity of emotions and relationships between people. My work wants to be an invitation to look beyond the surface to find the Janara that is hidden in our daily life. They are images that I propose to observe carefully to find the janara in the details, in the changes of perspective, in the unsaid.

I believe it is necessary to ask ourselves how every element of the feminine that does not correspond to rigid expectations has always been demonized. After all, Janara is the feminine that we are afraid of because we don't know it and that cannot be accepted. However denying the Janara for some women, as for those around them, can be dangerous and lead to deep conflicts which can then degenerate into a great disease.

La Dianara, (2022-)

L’idea è nata da un evento di cronaca recente dove una giovane madre, che aveva ucciso la sua bambina, era stata definita Mostro.

Ho osservato come nei miti popolari è comune trovare una schiera di figure femminili malevole e mostruose e ho approfondito lo studio della Dianara o Janara, strega del folclore sannita nota da Benevento a tutto il territorio dell’Alto Sannio, dove sono nata. La Janara è una donna che di giorno è madre e moglie devota, ma di notte si trasforma ed entra nelle case per punire chi le ha fatto uno sgarbo, uccidendone i figli o aggredendo le partorienti.

Lo stereotipo della donna dedita al ruolo di accudimento e sacrificio è profondamente radicato. Ma questa difficoltà ad accettare altri ruoli femminili e le sue ombre, ci impedisce di accogliere la complessità delle emozioni e delle relazioni tra le persone. Il mio lavoro vuole essere un invito a guardare oltre la superficie per trovare la Janara che si nasconde nel nostro quotidiano. Sono immagini che propongo di osservare con attenzione per scovare la janara nei dettagli, nei cambi di prospettiva, nei non detti.

Io credo sia necessario interrogarsi su come da sempre viene demonizzato ogni elemento del femminile che non corrisponda a rigide aspettative. In fondo la Janara è il femminile di cui abbiamo paura perché non lo conosciamo e che non può essere accettato. Tuttavia negare la Janara per alcune donne, come per coloro che le circondano, può essere pericoloso e portare a vivere profondi conflitti che possono poi degenerare in un grande malessere.

Behind your head

2022, 70 x 105 cm

Sign of devil

2022, 30 x 45 cm

In your shoes

2023, 70 x 105 cm

Beyond the normal period (panel I)

2023, 13 x 18 cm

Beyond the normal period (panel I e II)

2023-24, 26 x 18 cm

The beast

2022, 30 x 45 cm

It cannot be untied

2024, 70 x 105 cm

Iron and steel

2024, 30 x 45 cm

Untitled

2024, 30 x 45 cm

At the edge of the forest

2024, 30 x 45 cm

Untitled

2024, 30 x 45 cm

Untitled

2024, 30 x 45 cm

Untitled

2024, 30 x 45 cm

Untitled

2024, 30 x 45 cm

Group Exhibition, Milano, 2022

Clic.hé - Webmagazine di fotografia e realtà visuale, November issue, 2024

The closest thing to us


	White shirt	2022, 50x70 cm

The closest thing to us (2022)

Clothing is one of the ways through which we present ourselves to others. It allows us to shape our appearance and to construct an identity that can reflect who we are, who we would like to be, and how we want to be seen.

Fashion makes this process especially visible, as clothes can be changed, combined and used to move between different versions of ourselves.

The closest thing to us explores this relationship between clothing and the way we construct our image. In the photographs, garments leave their usual place on the body and cover the face, which is often the first part of a person we look at for recognition. Clothing becomes a mask, while hands, posture and parts of the body remain visible.

The series develops around the distance between what we show and what remains hidden. Clothes can help us create the person we want others to see, while also giving us a way to conceal parts of ourselves. In the images, this process becomes physical: fabric covers the face and takes its place, making the garment the element through which the figure is perceived.

This creates an ambiguity between the desire to be seen and the desire to control what others can see. The photographs remain within this tension, where appearance can reveal something about a person while leaving something else out of view, and where clothing becomes a way of exploring the distance between the self we experience and the one we present to others.

Orange coat

2022, 50x70 cm

Black kimono

2022, 50x70 cm

The red down jacket

2022, 50x70 cm

Pink jacket

2022, 50x70 cm

Grey scarf I

2022, 50x70 cm

Wollen sweater

2022, 50x70 cm

Exhibitions and recognition

2023 Roma Fotografia, Sono ciò che indosso?, Rome Second Prize, ex aequo. Presented at Castel Sant'Angelo, Palazzo Massimo and Palazzo Altemps.
2022 Passaggi Festival, Fano, Italy Solo presentation in the festival programme.
2022 Centrale Festival, Fano, Italy Prova di trasmissioni, group exhibition.

This artwork is available as fine art prints in a limited edition of 5 + 2 AP.

For sales and collaborations, contact me at susannafionamurray@gmail.com

Mrs. Hollow is coming to play

Mrs. Hollow is coming to play, 2022

"One day Mrs. Hollow got tired of having to adapt her face to every situation: to be happy, to be sad, to be bored, to get angry, or to console others. So she decided to make a face for herself. Finally, one face is ready for any emotion.

She took paper, glue, and brushes and built his new face.

Mrs. Hollow was so happy with her new face that she decided not to take it off again. Not even when she was home.

And when one day he got older, unfortunately, she no longer remembered how his real face once was.

It happens to many people as it does to her ".

In this work, my investigation of the relationship between identity and body continues.

I was inspired by the work of Brotherus who with "Portrait Series" pays homage to Baldessari's work on the subject of the artist's self-portrait while keeping the face hidden. Baldessari himself created a series of portraits of an artist with his face hidden by objects, arguing that the face could distract attention.

However, I inserted a face and I reconnected, in my research, to the work of Inge Morath "The Mask Series" with the artist Saul Steinberg, where through simple masks, designed by Steinberg, the accent is placed on how we wear social masks to adjust to expectations and mystify our true emotions.

So I imagined a small story taking a cue from Rodari's "Favole on the phone" by building a narrative like children's books where the protagonist does things: she dresses, reads, walks, leaves the house, goes into the woods (and here the work could go on).

In particular, I thought of Andy Pandy's stories that maybe I don't think are known in Italy, but when I was a child in the 70s he was very popular with us in Scotland.

The entry song of the show and the audiobooks said precisely "Andy Pandy is coming to play", which in my work has a double play value, but also to play a part, that is not to be yourself but to play another identity. Finally, "hollow" in English means "empty", which is a bit of the experience shared by those who feel the need to build an inauthentic identity to relate to themselves and to others.