Ragazze. Lucianella Cafagna solo exhibition

Opening on Wednesday 23 October 2019, 7 pm

Lucianella Cafagna, Bella Ciao, 2019, Oil on cardboard

Lucianella Cafagna, Bella Ciao, 2019, Oil on cardboard


Palazzo Merulana, born from the mutual reinforcing between Elena and Claudio Cerasi Foundation and CoopCulture, presents Ragazze, a retrospective exhibition on Lucianella Cafagna, for Rome Art Week IV Edition, 

Opening on Wednesday 23 October 2019, 7 pm, Lucianella Cafagna in dialogue with Concita De Gregorio

The roman artist focused for twenty years her research on the theme of adolescence, particularly on the archetype of the young lady-nymph, tackling both art history and psychology. The nymph's ambiguous features, being both human and divine, both child and adult, as well as her androgynuous vagueness, make her slip away from boundaries and stereotypes, but also the symbol of transcience and impermanence, loaded of pathos. The nymph is seen as a cherry blossom, embodying that mono no aware, that feeling of nostalgia, which introduces in the experience of beauty the depths of time, the consumed sense of loneliness. 

Cafagna wants to celebrate this character in its contemporary conception, dedicating her girls to all the upcoming brave Antigones appearing these recent years in the public debate. Antigone has always been considered the emblem of the fight against power, the solitary and romantic rebellion against tyrants' injustices. "From Pussy Riots to the little girl reading the constitution in front of the Russian army, from Malala to Eddi the fighter defending the Curdish experiment against fundamentalists, from Greta, to the girl living in the trees, to all the "she-captains". She is a completely new character, plenty of hope" - Cafagna states. 

Lucianella Cafagna was born in Rome in 1968. She studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and subsequently spent a period training in the studio of Pierre Carron, a protégé of Balthus. In 2011, Cafagna took part in the 54 th Venice International Art Biennale with a life-size work exhibited in the Italian Pavilion, while in 2014 she gained an entry in the Enciclopedia Treccani, Italy’s foremost encyclopedia. Her work has been compared to the Magic Realism of the Roman School. In Rome, she is represented by RvB Arts contemporary art gallery. 

The exhibition will be on show until October, 30.

Opening on Wednesday 23 October 2019, 7 pm, free access

From October 24 to 30 

Full ticket €10.00

Reduced ticket €8.00

The ticket includes the access to the Cerasi Collection, the Jan Fabre. The Rhythm of the Brain exhibition and the Ragazze by Lucianella Cafagna exhibition 

Opening hours

From Wednseday to Monday

From 10 am to 8 pm, last entrance at 7 pm 

Tuesday closed