Vanessa Giorgo, who graduated with an MA in Curating from the School of Arts in 2019, will be curating a forthcoming exhibition entitled ‘In-Between’.
The exhibition will be an examination of the landscape of immigration and in particular of its impact on second-generation immigrants.
Second-generation immigrants have not been given enough attention in research regarding the way their identity unfolds and are often simplistically classified as either immigrants or locals. However, identities cannot be put in rudimentary boxes. This exhibition will explore the complex perspectives of second-generation immigrants around their lived experiences regarding their balancing of their cultures and their oscillation between feelings of belonging to the ‘motherland/s’ and the ‘promised-land’.
Focusing primarily on the way these diverse cultures contribute in formulating the identity of the subject, the artworks will demonstrate how feelings, such as a sense of alienation and of belonging, can coexist. The artists participating have contributed works across multiple mediums, from collage and acrylic on canvas to video and sound installations. ‘In-Between’ is a result of a research project carried out through artistic practice. The compilation of this material will result in the next stop of this journey, the composition of a following exhibition in 2021.
Vanessa explains some of the motives behind the exhibition: ‘this is a very personal project, which rose to the surface from my experiences as a second-generation immigrant. Coming to the UK provided me with an external viewpoint of where I have been standing for all these years and a clearer definition of who I am. I began to research, which is when I saw that there is not enough information or knowledge on the topic. That is when the idea landed on me, to create a community through an exhibition series and expand the current ground through artistic research’
While at Kent, Vanessa co-curated the Studio 3 Gallery exhibition ‘Catching Flies’. You can see a images from the exhibition launch on Facebook, here. Vanessa refers to her year studying towards her MA in Curating saying: ‘my year during my MA in Kent proved to be incredibly insightful, both into curatorial practices and into who I want to be. Always looking for opportunities to see who I am and what I want to be, I was able to participate in multiple creative activities in Kent and London which broadened my perspective over the art world and its possibilities’.
The exhibition will take place in TOMA Time Bank Space in Southend-on-Sea on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October. At the same time, it will also be videographed and shown online until Wednesday 8 November 2020 for anyone who won’t be able to attend during these two days.
The online version will be shown on vanessagiorgo.com/current-projects
Admission to the exhibition will be via invitation only. For details, please email van.giorgo@gmail.com