‘Resistance Along the Axon’ is a video/performance that explores the sudden changes occurring to the body following a drug-induced allergy reaction, and the impact that it has on the nervous system. In the escalation of events, the body loses control due to the alteration of the transmission among the nerve fiber axon and muscles, glands, and neurons. The body is moving or just in stillness in the surrounding space and within its inner space. The contrast between the voice-over orders and the spontaneous and yet unnatural movements force this opposition. Embracing stillness becomes the only way to be.
It is part of ‘A Philology of Emotions’, a multidisciplinary project investigating the body in relation to illness and physical pain. Using video, performance, photography, sound, and text, ‘A Philology of Emotions’ aims to create a methodology capable of elaborating a language that can express embodied emotions and perceptions of the sick body.
Silvia Gentili is a multidisciplinary Italian artist, independent curator, and workshop facilitator. Her practice explores stories that belong to the personal and political realm through photography, film, performance, sound, and text. 
Her research investigates the concepts of trauma and memory in connection to the body, landscape, and storytelling. Recently, her research has moved into the field of medical humanities. She is developing a methodology to elaborate a language that can express the emotions and physical perceptions of the sick body.
Gentili gained a MA in Photography from the London College of Communication, and previous to that a BA in Anthropology (University of the Studies of Rome La Sapienza) and a Diploma in Photography (IED Rome). 
Her work was exhibited internationally, including shows in London, Padua, Rome, New York, Reykjavík, and Leipzig. She was nominated for Magnum Photo Graduates Award and shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries.
She is the director and creator of MAGMA Hub (www.magmahub.it), a medical humanities hub, and vice-director of CIDP (Italian Centre for Personality Disorders - www.centroclinicocidp.com).