Independent musician Francesca Pichierri spoke with us in May over Instagram Live about her new album, Celulle Stronze, released on World Ovarian Cancer Day! Her mother’s journey with ovarian cancer, and her and her family’s emotions as they cared for and supported her mother, all coalesce in a powerful musical awareness project. Watch the full interview on Instagram, read the excerpt below, and check out Francesca’s music! You can also watch her perform some of the songs from the album, including “Gelo,” which was released on World Gynecologic Oncology Day 2024, in this Livestream from the ESGO 2024 Congress, in Rome, as part of the launch of the Italian localization of Olivia, a digital patient support platform for ovarian cancer patients and their loved ones.
Francesca Pichierri
Thanks a lot for inviting me!
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Today we’re going to talk about your album—your brand-new album, congratulations—and a little bit about the journey that you took in creating that album, about gynecological cancer awareness in general. So, Francesca, could you tell us a little bit about who you are?
Francesca
I’m Francesca Pichierri. I come from the south of Italy, and I’m an independent singer-songwriter. My background is in both music and human rights, and I think that combination really shapes the way I approach making art, making music, and especially the attention to the social purpose behind them. I’m based in Germany.
When I work on my music, I have lan overall approach to it, like I take different perspectives, I write my music, I compose, I arrange, and I produce my work.
I really care also about the visual aspect of my music, and that was also an important component on my work. I’m a narrative-driven songwriter. And so I, let’s say, instead of fitting into a specific genre, I use the music genre just to basically dig deeper into the emotional core of each piece.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
I think you described it as sort of a poetry book, in musical format, right?
Francesca
Yeah, exactly. And for that, I collaborated with a German visual artist, and we worked together directing and creating all these videos, but also all the songs have specific artwork which tells in a symbolic way, the meaning, or expresses the meaning of each song.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
And so your album Celulle Stronze, which you just released in connection with World Ovarian Cancer Day, which was May 8. So this whole album is reflections from your feelings during your mother’s journey with ovarian cancer. Is that right?
Francesca
It’s more like a narration of what she had been through, and of course, also what we as a family have been through. I wrote the songs from 2021 to 2023. Of course, the journey of my mom is still ongoing, and in this case, what I wanted, what I tried to do, is to narrate her experience, and especially the complexity of the cancer journey, not only from a physical point of view, but emotional and social point of view, and that was very important for me to be completely authentic and honest and really stick to the narration of my mom. So of course, my mom’s input was essential for the creation of the album. So for both of us, probably, it was a way to make sense of an experience.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
And had you ever touched on such personal topics before, in your music or in your art?
Francesca
I always had a kind of a personal approach and existential approach. It’s making art and music. But yeah, this, this work is very vulnerable. It’s very intimate. And yeah, it was, let’s say, difficult to create, but necessary, sure.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
The first single in the album was “Gelo”. You released it last year on September 20, which is, of course, World Gynecologic Oncology Day. Could you tell me something about how you found out about World Gynecologic Oncology day, and what gave you the idea to release a song connected to our awareness day?
Francesca
I discovered it while researching awareness campaigns and support networks in relation to gynecology cancers. And, yeah, I was looking for ways to release my first single in a meaningful context. And, and it was kind of funny, because when I was creating the release plan for the album, and I came to know about the 20th of September it was kind of magic. It felt perfect. I wanted to give a strong symbolic meaning behind the musical context. And that’s how I came to know about the day, and that’s how that day was so important to me. And it was an important symbol for the whole project.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Well, thank you!
Francesca
I also think it’s very important to connect art with advocacy. It’s a powerful tool, it’s a powerful collaboration.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
If anybody else is watching this video later, and you have an artwork that you’d like to do connected to awareness, please write us an email!
One of goals of World Gynecologic Oncology day, of course, is to lift up patients, to listen to patient voices and the families of patients, but also to kind of spread awareness about these cancers. What did you know about ovarian cancer before it touched your family?
Francesca
As a family, we were always aware of it in terms of prevention. And my mom, for example, found out about her cancer through yearly checking. She communicated this attention to prevention, and, you know, knowledge about cancer and to me and my brother. It felt quite surreal in a way, because we also didn’t have any history of cancer in our family. So that was a really shocking news.
For us, knowledge, or gaining the knowledge, was one of the first steps to supporting my mom when we were distant. So, yeah, so we gathered all the books and yeah, and we read everything you know, also research papers like medical journals and so on. I think it’s very important to be to know as much as you can.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Absolutely. And I’d like to point out, because the last time that I saw Francesca was in the ESGO Congress in Rome in February this year, where we launched Olivia, the Ovarian Cancer Support Platform, in Italian. And then earlier this month, we also launched Olivia in German.
So if anyone is watching this and they’re thinking, oh, I need more information about ovarian cancer because I was just diagnosed, or someone in my family was diagnosed, you can go to ovarian.gynecancer.org.
Francesca
It was really beautiful and really emotional, and it was a beautiful experience. Some songs are still hard to perform. You know, the journey is still ongoing. So we have up and downs, but I feel a strong purpose. And I feel like, when I when I started to write the album, it it was first as a personal thing, and it was kind of a therapeutic act and a way to find meaning of what felt completely no sense and, you know, unjust and also to try to eternalize some moments in sound.
I wanted to give voice to the complexity of the experience. I felt as a caregiver, that there is not much awareness about what it really means to experience such a disease. So I felt the need to communicate the complexity of the process.
And I felt like these are stories that need to be told, even if we don’t want to deal with complex topics, we don’t want to deal with pain, with vulnerability. We are so stressed in everyday life. We tend to avoid having these conversations.
I think it’s very important to talk about different experiences and to be open about vulnerabilities and the things are complex and the need to they need to be discussed in our conversation need to happen, and also to generate more empathy.
And so while performing that, although I was feeling the heaviness sometimes of that, I always thought this is important, and my story—the story actually, of my mom, but our story as a family, right?—it’s important to share.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
You put so much emotion in your voice when you’re singing.
So Francesca, what are your plans for world Gynecologic Oncology Day this year? Anything else we should look forward to?
Francesca
I was thinking about different options. I thought about writing something new, but from a different perspective in this time, from the perspective of the caregiver.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Could you talk about that a little bit? What did you experience?
Francesca
When it comes to gynecology cancer, there is also a lot of shame, because the part of the body is very intimate, so it’s also very difficult to talk openly about topics like sexuality, or, you know, emotions and the symptoms and so on.
I think what was interesting to experience was one of the things I also discussed in one of my songs, “Amen,” it talks about cancer ghosting. It’s the reaction of part of the society, of some people. It was totally unexpected.
So what happens is that some people, which were once friends and they were at your place to eat pizza, you know, and party in the past, they just disappear, and most of the time they don’t do it because they’re mean people.
I think it’s because we often don’t talk about these topics. It is kind of social awkwardness, in a way, how people react, and also a tendency to see the person going through illness as a sick person and not like as the individual they were also before, right?
And that was something that for me as a daughter, as a caregiver, was a strong experience to have.
I felt that stigma can be just as isolating and painful as the disease itself, right? Like the reaction somehow, the reaction of the people around to avoid or that they see you in a different way. And I think that’s why what you are doing and everyone breaking the silence and talking about it and discussing about this. It’s so, so helpful.
By avoiding certain conversations, we are just all becoming less empathic and less interested in understanding each other.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Ovarian cancer, I think, often gets overlooked because the symptoms are a little bit vague, right? And they are also things that you don’t talk to your friends about, like, problems going to the bathroom.
Francesca
Exactly. Or the sensation of feeling full, right? So they think, “oh, maybe I ate too much” Or, well, especially becausewomen need to be slim, right? So, of course, if you’re if you’re a bit swollen, then it’s your fault.”
Francesca
Ovarian cancer is particularly difficult to detect. Symptoms are hard to isolate in a way or you can give some justification.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
What advice would you give to some people who are maybe family members or caregivers of someone with ovarian cancer?
Francesca
Don’t neglect yourself in the process. You are important too. The possibility of finding moments to recharge your batteries is very important. For me it was the music.
It’s such an emotional roller coaster. You try to hold all these emotions, and you know, they can explode. Remind yourself that you are important and your health is important too. And also don’t try to fix everything. Y
I think it’s important to acknowledge all the complexity of the process and the different emotions which are part of it: anger and feeling completely helpless.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Where can people go if they want to listen to Cellule Stronze?
Francesca
It’s for free online. You can just use all the different streaming platforms like Spotify or iTunes, and it’s also on YouTube.
And on the website, I try to collect everything so people can have access to all information, all the visual material, all the poem or poetic content and lyrics and so on. So people can see all the journey that started from September 2024 and you know, it’s still ongoing. Everything is, of course, free. There’s no commercial interest in this album. It was financed by me, and it’s an independent work and a pure awareness event.
World Gynecologic Oncology Day
Just like Francesca’s album, World Gynecologic Oncology Day is completely free to join! Come to our website and learn how you can participate as a individual, as a patient advocacy group, or maybe as a business or hospital. Thank you again, Francesca!