Female Revolt
12 Sicily related artists in an art show curated by art critic Anda Klavina / August 20 – September 10, Trapani, Sicily, Italy
From August 20 to September 10, 2024 the exhibition Female Revolt with the subtitle Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Sicilian Art, curated by art critic Anda Klavina, will be held in the monastery of San Domenico in Trapani, Sicily. The exhibition will offer the artworks and performances of more than 12 female artists related to Sicily. Inspired by Trapani-born artist Carla Accardi and Carla Lonzi’s 1970 manifesto Female Revolt where they were callig for female authonomy, and drawing its strength from the examples of women empowerment from the regional history and playing with the etymology of the word revolt (from ‘revolver’ – ‘to return’ in Latin) the exhibition examines various forms of dissent and asks how female artists claim their power today.
Poster photo: Helena Grompone. Untitled, 2022. Digital Photography
The Female Revolt will open on August 20 at 10pm with performances by Helena Grompone, Josefina Torino and Savior Lunastorta.
Participating artists: Ilaria Facci, Giovanna Scarcella, Josefina Torino, Angela Trapani, Erika Montagna, Anitra Berzina, Piera Campo, Savior Lunastorta, Helena Grompone, Giovanna Miceli, Joetta Savona, Francesca Scalisi, Elena Alaimo, Rita Ernst, Valeria Arneodo.
Working in diverse media and materials artists have used the carte blanche given by the curator to venture into some of the deepest corners of their female identity: revealing trauma and existential longing, excerting critique of family, and speaking up for the invisible members of their society, as well as imagining a new type of fluid indentity beyond the existing gender discourse.
Anitra Berzina. Light Matteria Matters series. 2023–24, mixed media, 220x220 cm, Galleria Magazzini dell’Arte Contemporanea / Trapani, Sicily
“After Anitra Bērzina’s solo exhibition in Trapani this spring – Light matter matters, the exhibition of Sicilian women artists was unthinkable without her participation,” tells curator Anda Klavina. “In the solo exhibition, Anitra combined the scars of the Soviet regime in her family, the tension that tends to exist in marriage and the pain of self-growth of a creative person with the critique of patriarchalism recognizable to Italian women. Her ready-made objects – marriage bed sheets found in Trapani second-hand shops with crying or closely watching eyes, were interpreted by many as a taboo violation.”
After more than two months of creative residency in Sicily, Anitra Bērziņa has created a new installation Pain Ended Here. “The distance from Latvia and the resonance with the women’s struggle for justice here has given me the freedom to more boldly approach the topic of personal trauma,” says the artist, who is recognized in Latvia not only as a painter, but also by scenographer.
The exhibition Female Revolt is a culmination of an artist talk series titled Female Subjectivity in Contemporary Sicilian Art facilitated by Anda Kavina in the season of 2023/24 and focusing on Sicily related female artist practices. “In this momentous time of ‘return’ of the female, the exhibition puts focus on the female sense of existence,” tells curator Anda Klavina. “When trying to prove his theory that Oddysey was written by a Trapani princess Nausicaa and not Homer, English scholar Samuel Butler cited as evidence that the poem prioritizes things in the order a woman would. This exhibition, too, gives an opportunity to look into the world with accents made by a person who identifies with a female identity.”
In line with the theme of the Female Revolt exhibition, several galleries in Trapani also offer exhibitions of female artists at this time.
Title image: Anitra Berzina. Light Matteria Matters series. 2023–24, mixed media, 220x220 cm, Galleria Magazzini dell’Arte Contemporanea / Trapani, Sicily
