Through an artistic practice rooted in anthropological research methodologies, Elena Mazzi (born 1984) explores points of tension within contemporary societies. The artist often works with communities directly connected to her research themes, developing multidisciplinary tools for collaborative action and speculative thought. In Self-Portrait with a Whale Backpack, Elena Mazzi portrays herself with a “whale-backpack,” suggesting the symbolic weight that nature exerts on humanity and the responsibility humans should assume toward the natural world. The artwork stems from an accident that occurred during a trip to Iceland, in which the artist suffered several fractured vertebrae. From that experience, and from observing local customs, such as collecting whale bones to decorate gardens, emerged a self-portrait that weaves together personal memory, landscape, and myth. In the photograph, the signs of surgical intervention are still visible on the artist’s body, which bears a large whale vertebra on her back - a concrete and poetic symbol of her journey. The work functions as a sensitive map of the relationship between humans and nature, and of the processes of trauma, regeneration, and transformation.