The Mouth of Truth is a small oil triptych on masonite inspired by the ancient Bocca della Verità in Rome — a symbol deeply connected to my birthplace and to the enduring mythology of truth.

In this work, the icon appears in three different scenarios, each ironizing the fragile and contradictory nature of truth in contemporary society.

In the first panel, the mouth is sealed with duct tape. Yet the pressure to speak is so intense that streams of violet saliva burst through the cracks — truth suppressed, but irrepressible.

In the second, the mouth smokes an oversized marijuana joint, sweating yellow. Truth becomes altered, intoxicated, blurred by perception and distortion.

In the third, the mouth wears makeup and brushes its teeth, oddly theatrical and self-aware — truth as performance, curated and cosmetically adjusted.

By choosing this ancient Roman symbol, I wanted to bridge past and present. What does truth mean today? And why does sincerity so often feel inconvenient, even disadvantageous?

This triptych plays with the sacred weight of the original icon while pulling it into the absurd theatre of modernlife — where truth is censored, distorted, beautified, and yet never entirely silenced.