Stefania Galegati, Arcipelago at Vino Vero

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The contemporary art project ‘Vetrina’ inaugurated its second cycle of presentations in February 2024. After exploring the broad theme of nature through the site-specific works of the first nine invited artists, the focus has now shifted to the theme of activism, exclusively involving women artists who are enterprising and provocative in different ways and who have always, in their works, provided space for a proactive reflection on the contemporary world.

For Vetrina#11 Vino Vero has invited the artist Stefania Galegati to present part of the project “Isola delle Femmine” which by its nature allows one to dream and reflect on crucial themes such as the management of common goods and private property, the protection of the territory, feminism and its various facets, and openness to failure and weakness.

The portraits of “Isola delle Femmine” by Stefania Galegati are an artistic practice of drawing and painting initiated in 2018, which will continue until the completion of reading and rewriting Simone De Beauvoir’s book “The Second Sex”. This project represents an exercise in which writing and painting merge and traverse the artist’s body, creating a dialogue between the encyclopedic text of historical feminism and visual expression. Such practice narrates a rediscovered education, absent in the artist’s school, academic, and university paths. Simone De Beauvoir’s words follow a path that goes from reading, to the eyes, to the brain, to the heart, to the stomach, to the uterus, and finally to the hand, to become signs and visual patterns.

This artistic journey accompanies a collective initiative to purchase Isola delle Femmine, a small island that covers nearly 15 hectares and is located 19 kilometers from Palermo, through €10 quotas donated by numerous women. The idea originally by Valentina Greco opens symbolically to an expansion of imagination and desire.

“Vetrina” is an exhibition series curated by Mara Sartore for Vino Vero, in collaboration with Lightbox. In 2024, Showcase hosts the works of three women artists – Loredana Longo, Stefania Galegati, and Paula Valero – who share a strong personality but with very different expressive styles and artistic paths. The challenge is to present artworks in a limited space and in direct contact with the public, where the showcase becomes an integral part of the artwork itself, and no longer just an exhibition space for sale.

Stefania Galegati (Bagnacavallo, 1973) ha studiato pittura all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna e a Brera con Alberto Garutti. Ha fatto parte di Via Fiuggi, un gruppo di giovani artisti che vivevano insieme a Milano alla fine degli anni Novanta. Lavora con diversi media innestando meccanismi di spostamento semantico nelle cose e nelle persone. Ha esposto per la prima volta nel 1994 a Viafarini. Nel 2003 vince l’International Studio Program al PS1 MoMA di New York. Nei 4 anni successivi vive senza residenza fissa fra New York, Buenos Aires, Tanzania e Europa. Dal 2008 vive a Palermo, dove ha messo radici con la sua famiglia. Dal 2015 al 2018 ha gestito il Caffè Internazionale, locale bar, centro multiculturale ed opera d’arte. Attualmente insegna pittura alla Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo. Lavora con Pinksummer, Genova, dagli inizi e con Francesco Pantaleone di Palermo dal 2007.

È socia fondatrice dell’associazione Femminote, con cui segue il progetto di acquisto collettivo dell’Isola delle Femmine (PA). È fondatrice e presidente dell’associazione Counterproduction che si occupa di pedagogia radicale e che dal 2015 attiva la Summer School of Contemporary Art di Palermo. Realizza due opere permanenti a Bagnacavallo (RA): nel 2019 il secondo Monumento al Cadere e nel 2023 Storie di Fango, dedicata alle ragazze che hanno aiutato durante l’alluvione. Nel 2024 vince il primo premio BPER ad ArteFiera di Bologna.

Stefania Galegati (Bagnacavallo, 1973) studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and at Brera with Alberto Garutti. She was part of Via Fiuggi, a group of young artists who lived together in Milan in the late nineties. She works with different media by grafting mechanisms of semantic displacement into things and people. She first exhibited in 1994 at Viafarini. In 2003, she won the International Studio Program at PS1 MoMA in New York. Over the next 4 years, she lived without a fixed residence between New York, Buenos Aires, Tanzania, and Europe.

Since 2008, she has been living in Palermo, where she has put down roots with her family. From 2015 to 2018, she managed the Caffè Internazionale, a local bar, multicultural centre, and work of art. Currently, she teaches painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo. She has been working with Pinksummer, Genoa, since the beginning, and with Francesco Pantaleone in Palermo since 2007. She is a founding member of the association Femminote, which is involved in the collective purchase project of Isola delle Femmine (PA). She is the founder and president of the association Counterproduction, which deals with radical pedagogy and has been running the Summer School of Contemporary Art in Palermo since 2015. She has created two permanent works in Bagnacavallo (RA): in 2019, the second Monument to the Fallen, and in 2023, Stories of Mud, dedicated to the girls who helped during the flood. In 2024, she won the first BPER prize at ArteFiera in Bologna.