CURRENT MISSION
Touring Asia with my travelling exhibition project "Towards East” @francesca_towards_east
( https://www.francescabiondi.art/exhibition-project )

ABOUT ME
I was born in a small southern Italian town not far from the city of Brindisi, which has always offered
me immediate and easy access to travel routes towards the East. The culture and people of
oriental countries always fascinate me. I have extensively traveled overland to the East looking for places where the traditions of community life and the relationship to and respect of nature still exists, seeking places
that are authentic and not artificial for commercial or touristic purposes.
I am a self-taught painter and have always favored drawing and painting as a means of exploring
and expressing myself and my surroundings. Ecological sustainability issues are very important to
me and my life choices reflect this passion. My interest in ecology led me, at the age of 28, to leave
Italy and the security of a permanent job to travel and search for places where I could experience
more sustainable lifestyles. Over the years I have lived in many different places, learning to take
care of myself and the earth in a natural way.
Driven by the desire to support ecological projects, which I often noticed were exhausted by
interpersonal dynamics, I began to train myself as a group facilitator, acquiring the necessary tools
to open up confrontational spaces to listen to everyone's voice, create shared projects and resolve
conflicts.
I am interested in Jungian psychology and, in particular, in the relationship between myth and
psychology. I was inspired to create my travelling exhibition project Towards East by reading
mythologist Joseph Campbell's book 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces', which describes the myth
of the Hero's Journey as a universal motif of human adventure and transformation.
In my current phase of life, I use my diverse education and life experiences to develop projects that
support my creativity and convey the message of unity and sustainability that I wish to leave to the
world.

PHILOSOPHY
Follow my gut

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

It's an amazing opportunity to connect with people during my travels. It provides the space and time to really get to know new people by sharing stories, experiences and information. It's very enriching and makes my trip worthwhile.

Interests

I like painting with oil colors, whiles traveling I can only use wather colors. When I'm still in a spot painting I have enough time to enjoy the variety of new sounds, smells, colours that surrounds me.
I love spending time in nature, seeing new landscapes, hiking and wild camping. Connection with nature is my medicine.
I enjoy eating the food that I grow: it amazes me how much care and energy is needed to grow organic veggies but all the work is rewarded afterwords when i am be able to eat and share delicious, healthy food.

• sketching
• dancing
• environment
• painting
• hitchhiking
• different cultures
• vegetarian cooking
• growing food

Music, Movies, and Books

I mainly enjoy world music especially the Eastern Europe and Middle Eastern ones, they really make want to dance!
My favourite books: The hero with a thousand faces (Joseph Campbell), The art of joy (Goliarda Sapienza), Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke), ...
My favourite movies and documentaries : Humans, Head on, The usual suspect, The fantastic world of Amelie, White cat black cat, ...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveling for two years from my home town to Asia and back without flying.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Company, cooking, gardening.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

England, Italy, Turkey