Opening Doors Spring 2022 - Lands, Real and Imagined: Women Artists Respond to the Art and Travel Writings of Maria Graham (1785 - 1842)

Francesca Genna (1967), was born and settled in Sicily (Italy). She is an artist, researcher and educator.

​She has written Incisione Sostenibile, nuovi materiali e metodi dell’area non-toxic ( Navarra: 2009); revised and updated in Materiali e Metodi per l’Incisione Sostenibile, alcune esperienze, (Navarra:2015).

Collaborating as researcher and invited professor with  national and international Universities: i Roma , Urbino , Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Nürnberg, Berlin, Porto Alegre.

Her visual work has been exhibited widely: solo exhibitions have been organized in Barcelona, Lubijana, Roma, Firenze. 

She awards the European Award for Lifelong Passions in 2013 (Bolzano, Italy) and was invited artist in residence in Morocco: The Assilah Forum Foundation, 39° Moussem Culturel International 2017.

Text from artist's website.

Five female artists in each of the countries Maria Graham wrote about discuss her work and raise questions about travel, colonialism, understanding the land, and the female gaze.

This list represents the works consulted by Francesca Genna as she developed her art in response to Maria Graham.

• Byung-Chul Han, “Duft der Zeit. Ein philosophischer Essay zur kunst des Verweilens”, 2009. (trad. it: Il profumo del tempo, l’arte di indugiare sulle cose”, Milano 2017). 
• Gilles, Clément, Eloge des vagabondes. Herbes, arbres et fleurs à la conquète du monde,  Paris 2002. (trad it:Elogio delle vagabonde, DeriveApprodi, 2020)  
• Alfredo, Di Domenicantonio; Corinto, Marianelli, “Sulle tracce di Maria Graham. tre mesi passati a Poli sulle montagne a est di Roma nel 1819”, edizione per il bicentenario, Poli (Roma),2019. 
• Maria Graham, “Three months passed in the mountains east of Rome, during the year 1819”, London, 1820. 
• Stefano Mancuso, “L’incredibile viaggio delle piante”, Laterza 2018.