Sagg Napoli Is Trading in Her Bow for the Written Word
The Neapolitan performance artist’s archery skills took her to the runways of Dior and the national championships. Now, she’s ready for the next move.
Sagg Napoli is giving up archery. It’s a surprising move because, to a casual observer, it’s the most identifiable element of her varied artistic practice. Yet this is precisely why the Neapolitan wants to move on, reflecting a wider, deeper desire to avoid categorization.
For the artist, whose real name is Sofia Ginevra Giannì, archery is a way of thinking about the body and its relationship to a whole host of things: politics, place, transformation, capitalism, taste and ritual. Giannì began training in 2020 after a breakdown prompted her return to Naples from London. At one point, she almost quit art entirely to focus on the sport, using it like a diary—a way to measure progress and find serenity through repetition.
Archery had given her momentous highs, from winning medals at the Italian Indoor Championship to a star turn in a Dior show last year. Yet it was always just one element of a practice that began by examining the codes of Southern Europe and its economic and cultural relationships with the North. Returning to these ideas, she’s now focused on writing and reading, finding a new ritual within words.
At MANIFESTO, a three-day festival presented by Kaleidoscope and GOAT at Espace Niemeyer during Paris Fashion Week, Sagg Napoli performs a reading with architect Sofia Albrigo, while her writing appears on 1-of-1 bags made in collaboration with Medea. Having hung up her bow for the last time, we caught up with the artist to talk about what’s next.