Venice, in exhibition Lucia Veronesi pays homage to four great women of the past

Plants, seeds, flowers and botanical inventions sewn on fabric make up a large herbarium: they are symbols of uniqueness, of the work and dedication of four pioneering women, healers, medical doctors, botanists, illustrators, scholars and explorers. This is Lucia Veronesi ’s (Mantua, 1976) tribute to Hildegarda von Bingen, Jeanne Baret, Elizabeth Blackwell and Marianne North in the exhibition Alone in the Woods. The exhibition runs from March 29 to May 17 in Venice at D3082 Domus Civica Art Gallery: it is an exhibition project curated by Eva Comuzzi that brings together new works by the artist, created for the spaces of D3082. Four sheets displayed in the windows compose a gigantic herbarium, to be consulted and discovered in every detail sewn and posted, observing it over time, from the street. A new insight and tribute to the lives of women in history who, by breaking boundaries, social norms and gender roles have contributed to the vision of the relationship between human beings and nature, to the development of natural sciences, and to civil progress.

The protagonists of Lucia Veronesi’s works are: the nun, writer, mystic, theologian Hildegarda von Bingen (1098 - 1179) author of numerous books devoted to the philosophy of nature, encapsulating her visions and great knowledge as a herbalist, naturalist, gemologist, cosmologist, musician, poet, healer; the explorer Jeanne Baret (1740 - 1807) considered to be the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, disguised as a man, in Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s expedition, collecting records of thousands of botanical species; the English naturalist and illustrator Marianne North (1830 - 1890) and her life between travels and colors between Asia, South America, South Africa up to New Zealand, invited by Darwin to portray thousands of plants and flowers always in their own context, in the landscapes of origin; the fourth showcase is dedicated to Elizabeth Blackwell (1707 - 1758) author of A curious herbal text that, even today, is considered a classic of botanical and naturalistic illustration.

Four women who, in different eras, tried to cross the boundaries of a strongly patriarchal society. A society where everything-primarily the expression and credibility of their research and words-was questioned or, worse, not even considered. In doing so, the artist transformed the papers on which plants and flowers were drawn into large TNT (non-woven fabric) sheets-the same ones that among other things are used to protect them from the cold of winter. Their faces are translated by the artist into the form of flower plants; new species she invented like the name they bear, which thus joins the concrete visionary nature of these women, exposing them in all their uniqueness and beauty. They are examples to look to and be inspired by, in times when, exploring and going deep, taking as much time as necessary, is hardly feasible.

For the curator of the project, Eva Comuzzi, “a showcase never leaves you indifferent. Everything you want and probably already have but don’t know you have is in there. You just have to learn how to display it better. To express it. And who better to tell us that than Hildegard von Bingen, Jeanne Baret, Elizabeth Blackwell and Marianne North? Who better than these women can show us that strength lies all within and all we need is the courage to bring it out? To express it with all one’s strength and dedication? To each of them, botanists, travelers, scholars, artists in times that were certainly not easy, Lucia dedicates a portrait. All four, as well as the four canvases made, place themselves in a liminal zone.”

It is a message offered to casual visitors, hundreds of passers-by who daily walk along the calle on which the large shop windows face, but who enter the daily lives of the young women who inhabit the Domus Civica women’s student house, inside which D3082 art gallery is located, so that they may become for them, too, a source of inspiration. D3082 is the art container of Domus Civica. Dedicated exclusively to the work of female artists, it is an unconventional space created in 2019, located in the large windows overlooking Calle de le Sechere. The works installed here, always visible to the public, are in close dialogue with the urban fabric and the casual observer.

D3082 is a project promoted by ACISJF Venice, supported by CIF - Centro Italiano Femminile. The exhibition is realized with the contribution of AF Service, Prosecco Liberty.

For all information, you can visit the official website of D3082 Domus Civica Art Gallery.

Ph. credit: Lucia Veronesi

Venice, in exhibition Lucia Veronesi pays homage to four great women of the past

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