Curated by Paolo Cortese
Artists: Francesca Cataldi, Anna Esposito, Elisabetta Gut, Maria Lai, Gisella Meo, Renata Prunas, Alba Savoi, Franca Sonnino

At the end of the 1960s in America and Europe, almost simultaneously, liberation movements began to emerge and challenged society on various aspects. Among these was feminism which, in its broader contemporary interpretation, embraces all issues related to gender identity. Today, feminism has reemerged with revived force and urgency, reclaiming its place at the forefront of international discourse and contributing to a broader vision of care, collective responsibility and coexistence on a shared planet.

Many women artists took to the streets and participated on the front lines of demonstrations, others carried out their revolution differently, choosing to freely use what was closest and most congenial to them as a means of making art. This, on one hand, placed these courageous pioneers outside of the market, but on the other, allowed them to experiment in total autonomy with a new universe of materials, exploring their properties and sometimes pushing them to their extremes.

This exhibition is dedicated to 8 women artists who chose to use thread as the privileged medium of their art.

Franca Zoccoli, recently wrote about this subject: “Spinning, weaving, sewing have been activities tied to the female universe since the day they were invented, in the historical, or better prehistoric reality, in myth and in fairy tales, the Fates, Penelope, the Sleeping Beauty. It is a female goddess, Aracne, who personifies the spider with its cobweb: charming geometries, attractive and dangerous like those of the digital web. A needle, which carries a thread to unite different cloths, to decorate giving colours and beauty,”

@ARTISSIMA 2025

Main Section/ Hall GREEN Stand 11 / Hall BROWN Stand 12

OVAL Lingotto Fiere

Via Giacomo Mattè Trucco, 70

Torino 10126

Curated by Paolo Cortese
Artists: Mirella Bentivoglio, Francesca Cataldi, Anna Esposito, Elisabetta Gut, Maria Lai, Gisella Meo, Greta Schödl, Franca Sonnino.

During the general climate of protest in the 1970s, women in Europe fought to reclaim their role in society. Since the feminist revolution touched upon many different areas of culture, it naturally influenced the consciousness of the creative world as well. Female art collectives soon formed, and came together to share their lived experiences and to support each other. Many women artists chose to hit the streets and took part at the forefront of the demonstrations, while others carried out their revolution in a different way, seemingly less obvious, yet equally as powerful.

Indeed, in the 1970s and 1980s artist, poet and curator Mirella Bentivoglio supported the struggle for female emancipation by curating annual exhibitions for female artists. Gramma_ Epsilon Gallery continues her legacy by introducing today the works of 8 female artists, including Bentivoglio herself, who have claimed their right to be artists by using as working tools the items that were close to hand and most compatible with their creative practice.

They used art as a link between the inner vision, the dream and its expression. A powerful Trojan horse able to break down all kinds of barriers and allow all women to fulfil their dreams and live their daily lives without having to give up the role that the society of the time imposed on them.

A fully realised and complete version of this project will be exhibited in the gallery in Athens from 12.11.2024 to 25.02.2025

@ARTISSIMA 2024

Opening 31.10.2024

01 – 03.11.2024

Main Section

Hall GREEN Stand 13 / Hall BROWN Stand 14

OVAL Lingotto Fiere

Via Giacomo Mattè Trucco, 70

Torino 10126

Athens Art Book Fair is an artist-run initiative aiming to bring together and showcase artist publications produced in Greece as well as to create a link with publishing-based artistic practices (print, online and else) internationally. It was founded in 2019 by Margarita Athanasiou and Michalis Pichler.

Gramma_Epsilon Gallery has been selected to participate as an exhibitor for the fair’s 2023 edition which will take place in Athens Conservatory. The Gallery will showcase old and new artist’s books and limited editions together with its four published monographies-exhibition catalogs.

One of the oldest art fairs in Europe, Art Athina has been active since its establishment by the Hellenic Art Galleries Association in 1993. Its strong institutional presence is realized  today by the art fair itself, hosting Greek and international galleries and by its multidisciplinary parallel activities and programming.

Gramma_Epsilon Gallery participates with the project “The Different Revolution”, curated by Paolo Cortese, by bringing to the Athenian public five Italian female artists of the 1970s who have dedicated their life’s work to the mission of female liberation. Highlighting a revolution carried out in diverse ways in a climate of constant protests, the project foregrounds five unique creative talents who fought to be heard through their art.

Artists: Mirella Bentivoglio, Francesca Cataldi, Anna Esposito, Gisella Meo, Franca Sonnino