Peruvian artist Winnie Minerva talks about collective trauma, immerses herself in Rome and seeks a “connection with something bigger” as the new exhibition “Presagio” opens at the Memmo Foundation than us.”
If you’re visiting Rome for the first time, you’ll likely spend most of your trip looking up. Almost every cobblestone street is filled with ancient ruins and baroque palaces, and the city has no less than 900 churches, most of them Catholic, and as such highly decorated, with gilded ceilings. It is filled with frescoes depicting heavenly scenes.Peruvian artist taking up residence at Memmo Foundation this February winnie mainerva‘s new work exhibition presageo This work is the result of several months of exploring the Italian capital, absorbing the wonders of its art, and engaging in this vast act of looking upwards. “Recently, I was talking with a friend about the cultural term ‘cannibalism,’ because this was a way for me to connect with Rome,” they told AnOther. “I feel like I devoured that cultural element, digested it, and made it my own.”
Born and raised in the Lima suburb of Villa El Salvador, Minerva’s interdisciplinary practice is shaped by collective trauma and the realities of living with chronic illness. The smooth bodies that appear in their works transcend dichotomous oppositions such as “male and female,” “illness and health,” and reflect on what it means to be human. It’s creating space for a broader conversation about. . The artist’s new show follows biologist Lynn Margils’ concept of the “holobiont.” Organisms that are composed of multiple ecosystems that coexist with each other. Proposing to view the human body and its inhabitants in the same unified way, the artist hopes to dispel the stigma associated with disease.
All of the pieces were created over two months with his mother and sister, living in a centuries-old apartment and studio space adjacent to the Fondazione. Beyond the themes explored, this residency sees the artist venture into new mediums for the first time, experimenting with charcoal, new forms of painting, and blown glass pieces created during a trip to Venice. “At the beginning of each exhibition, I make a personal declaration that guides my process,” the artist says of the exhibition. “This time, I approached the work from the perspective of a sick person. I observed my body with more awareness of my organs, blood, skin, and body fluids. [That made] I feel as if I have become the landscape. ”
The resulting exhibition takes visitors on a journey from the material to the spiritual. The first room displays a charcoal drawing of a sick man’s body struggling in a blur of light and shadow, leading to his second room where his four circular paintings can be seen on the ceiling. it is continuing. Somewhere between abstraction and representation, in these discs the digestive, respiratory, and nervous systems intertwine with viruses, forming scenes resembling celestial compositions. These works are part of the Roman fresco cycle, virginia woolf‘s essay About existence III, which was written in 1925 in the wake of a nervous breakdown. “Woolf wrote that sick people, who are often bedridden, see the world differently when they spend time looking up,” says Minerva. “I hope that by changing the perspective of the viewer, the true self will be revealed more.”
Like Woolf, the artist read a lot susan sontag At the time these works were created. “I was struck by her critical view of military language regarding her illness,” she says. “Words like ‘fighting cancer’ or ‘winning the battle against disease’ turn the body into a threat and life into a battle. As Sontag explains, living with disease means living with that metaphor. With this in mind, we have associated different diseases with different meanings; for example, leprosy is associated with poverty, and syphilis is associated with promiscuity. I decided to create a series of paintings that represent a universe in which viruses and the body form a kinship and are interconnected.”
The final room is a small, cozy space with Klein blue carpet and walls that houses a collection of glass sculptures created by Minerva with Venetian artisans. These unstable, colorful forms look part plant, part animal, and part human, and were brought to life by the artist to create organic shapes. “Here, fragility and beauty take center stage, perfectly embodied by glass and its properties,” says the artist. The product of Minerva’s own ecosystem of collaborations – from the artist’s family to curator Alessio Antonioli – presageo It offers new ways of thinking about the body, illness, and our small place in the wider world. “This is an exhibition based on spirituality, but not in a religious sense,” says the artist. “Instead, we are looking for a connection to something bigger than ourselves.”
presageo Written by Winnie Meinerva, available below memmo foundationRome, until November 3, 2024.
