An excerpt from Nerina Cocchi’s trilingual tongue
« Mother Tongue »

I would like to speak of the heart. Of COURAGE !

In French, you say avoir le coeur de faire quelque chose, to have the heart to do something. In Italian, you say avere cuore, di dire, di fare, di immaginare, avere cuore e osare, to have the heart to do something and to dare to actually do it, the line is thin but it’s still there… And I speak of the heart also because – because you need a heartbeat, and so a heart, in order to do, in order to dare.

I have my heart set on something. It’s not about goals, it’s about life force. It’s about the fact that, when that heart stops, there is no courage to be had anymore. Finché c’è vita, c’è speranza. As long as there’s life, there’s hope, but, maybe, I think it would be better to say, as long as there is a heartbeat, there is life ? And as long as there is life, there is courage ? The courage to do more, the courage to do better, the courage to do what moves me profoundly, le courage de faire ce qui moi m’anime profondément.