The new AtWork Venice chapter, “Where is South?”, dedicated to young refugees and implemented in partnership with UNHCR, has come to an end. The notebooks produced by the participants are now on display at Palazzo Querini, together with the illustrious works of “Rothko in Lampedusa”.
The workshop took place at the Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation’s Palazzo Giustinian, where 18 refugees and their Italian peers discussed their idea of “South”. The theme of the workshop was the starting point of a deeply emotional and cognitive journey, and one of critical thinking and debate.
As workshop participant Liryc Dela Cruz writes in his introduction to the exhibition’s catalogue: “The impetus for this project is the search for the South. A riddle we encountered upon our arrival in Venice. Are we sailors? We arrived in Venice floating in its incessant water, lost in its canals, the powerful waves of Poseidon (Simon Njami) tossing us back and forth. Day after day, we heard stories of loss, dreams, escape, yearning and displacement. Stories that many of us are mortified to tell or remember. Our journey in search of the South has led us to become naked and reconnect with ourselves again. Poseidon sculpted us to confront our truths, fears, shames, maladies, memories and layers of impositions that have been preventing us to free our mind and soul. The process was never easy. We have been shaken and destroyed. We have become sailors navigating in an ocean of knowledge and nothingness in search of meaning, under the violent rain of confusion, alienation and disconnection. In the end, we have found the shore (…).”
Landing on the shore and building AtWork in Venice was not an easy task. It required sensitivity, delicacy, commitment, and at times an iron fist. Above all, determination on everyone’s part, first and foremost operators and social workers. Simon Njami has been able to gain the concrete trust of the participants through tireless listening, warmth and toughness, all at the same time. He spurred them on; provoked, accompanied, ridiculed and gratified. Moment after moment, day after day. An alchemic process, personal and collective, which not only transformed the participants but all of us, as always happens when real empathy is ignited.
Francesca Paiella, social worker at Il Volo Cooperative, and project manager of Atelier Trame Libere, says: “The path was beautiful and troubled, and has gone through many phases-as it should-including the initial refusal and then the total falling in love! I believe that Hina (John, participant) has explored a part of herself that was previously unknown, and for this has returned home with a very precious treasure. This is really priceless and rarely happens during the welcoming process for asylum seekers.”
The AtWork Venice exhibition “Where is South?” will be open to the public until November 24, 2019, and is co-curated by the participants themselves, in the same context as the exhibition “Rothko in Lampedusa”, curated by Francesca Giubilei and Luca Berta for UNHCR, the initiative’s partner.
In addition to the Venice participants’ notebooks, there are also five notebooks from previous AtWork editions, including one by Mohamed Keita, the artist already part of “Rothko in Lampedusa”, which he created during AtWork in Modena in 2016.
We thank all the individuals and sponsors, including System Professional Italia and Tree, who made this project possible.
The workshop was made in collaboration with Nation25, Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation, UNESCO’s Italian Youth Association, Freel, Save the Children, Civico Zero (Milan and Turin), Trame Libere, Talking Hands, Il Volo Social Cooperative, SPRAR Itri.
Some of the participants will take this experience to enrich the second workshop phase, “B&W – Black & White, the migrating trend”, in residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome (MACRO) from 1 to 13 October, 2019.
Claude Bunny Massassa is a contemporary artist from Gabon. She created Bunny Studio in 2016, a start-up dedicated to photography production, which became DWABI Studio in 2021. As an artist, she has represented Gabon in many international exhibitions in Senegal, Uganda, France, the United States, and Italy. In her art, she denounces social stigmas around issues of identity and mental health, and explores themes of traditions and myths.
Executive Director Kimberly Aceves- Iñiguez has been passionately committed for over 20 years to social justice organizing and advocacy efforts that bring voice and power to youth, LGBTQ people, people of color, and working-class communities in the Bay Area. Before coming on as the Executive Director for RYSE, Kimberly served as the Executive Director for Youth Together, the founding organization of the RYSE Center.
Kanwarpal Dhaliwal is one of the co-founders of RYSE and currently acts as the Associate Director. She supports and guides the implementation and integration of healing-centered practices, grounded in racial justice and liberation, and also develops, promotes, and advocates for policies, investments, practices, and research that enliven healing, justice, and liberation. Kanwarpal believes that the purpose of her work and life is to contribute to movements, communities, and legacies of liberation that honor the ancestors who fought for her existence and survival, and to forge a world that is just and gentle for future generations.
Sagal Ali is the founder and executive director of SAF. After a few years in her career in heritage protection in the cultural sector, she decided to develop the initiative to directly support young creatives in Somalia by launching her own foundation. She hopes to bridge the social gaps and inequalities women face in Somalia, both in society and in the arts scene.
Co-founders Catherine Dunga and Marleen Palmaers created Kitambo to bridge the gap between the African diaspora in Colombia and the narratives from the continent. From Kinshasa and Antwerp respectively, they work to connect African artists from the continent and their peers from the Colombian diaspora.
Martha Kazungu is a curator, art Historian and Founder of Njabala Foundation, an organization that curates periodic exhibitions and organizes a public program of activities to create a safe space for female artists to thrive and blossom.
Alicia Hansen is a photographer and teacher from New York. She founded NYC SALT in 2008 and, beyond teaching valuable creative skills to her students, has developed a long-term support system to uplift them through school and into their early artistic careers.
