Lidia Leon – TE VEO, ME VEO
Lidia León
TE VEO, ME VEO
Curated by Roberta Semeraro and Iris Peynado
Church of Santa Maria della Presentazione or delle Zitelle
Fondamenta Zitelle, Giudecca 33 – 30133 Venezia
05.09 – 09.30.2019
Opening hours: 10:00 – 1:00pm / 3:00pm – 8:00pm
In the Palladian church Le Zitelle, located in front of Piazza San Marco on the Giudecca island, has been inaugurated, on May 9, the exhibition TE VEO, ME VEO by the artist Lidia León. It will be open until September 30.
The main artwork of the exhibition by “Lileón”, “Te veo, Me veo” give space and shape to the concepts that are the foundation of human rights, linking two fundamental principles of ethics: freedom and equality. Visitors will be actively involved, entering some sort of airship with the typical aerodynamic structure, made up of mirror aluminium sheets and containing a cockpit with a simple tilting swing, half-hidden by a black fabric scenery flat, which splits it into two parts. An oval window -made of synthetic and plastic fibres opens up in the middle of this scenery flat. Through a clever gimmick, it allows observers to get carried away by the game: while swinging they will see the other’s face (Teveo) and soon after their own face (Me veo).
The Dominican artist Lidia León, exhibiting in Europe for the first time, studied photography in her young age, applied arts and then architecture. She grew up in a Catholic family, which for several generations has supported art and culture in their Country through the E. León Jimenes Cultural Center. Lidia León met, with great availability and openess the visitors and the journalists during the busy days of the Biennale opening, discussing on the many impulses that her work inspires. This particular sensitivity and empathic ability are also among the successfull elements of an exhibition that has the streingth to involve the visitor.
“Te veo, Me veo – writes the curator, Roberta Semeraro – comes directly from cosmogonyas it recalls the cosmic egg, which would hang in the apsidal conchin Orthodox Christian churches. Then, if we consider art as an unconscious language, through which authors are rewarded by their artefacts, leading to the sublimation of the contents in the shapeand structure of the work of art, “Te veo, Me veo” can also be connected with the birth and re-birth of Lidia Léon’s personality, who finds her integrity as a woman and artist in the act of creation. Just like the egg – with its shell – guards the mystery of life, the aluminium armour of the work “Te veo, Me veo” hides within itself the mechanism through which life develops, which is indeed the subject merging with the object of knowledge”
“Immanuel Kant (whose thought in the Practical Reason treatise is specifically a source of inspiration for Lidia León) – continues Ms. Semeraro in her critique – like many other philosophers and thinkers, tried to explain an apparently simple rule, yet contradicted by intolerance and racial discrimination, which are still a feature of our time. By stating “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end”, the German philosopher highlights the close correspondence of each individual action with the reality in which it occurs, having in the latter its effects and consequences. Therefore, if we look at the others and find in them a reflection of ourselves, as the artist invites us to do, there will never be any exploitation in human relationships but only reciprocity between individuals, who will be certain to live in a system of justice and equality”.
The location is another fundamental element for the exhibition. “The reason why “Te veo, Me veo” is held in the church Santa Maria della Presentazione in Venice – Roberta Semeraro continues – is to be found in the holy gospels of the apostles Matthew and Luke. Furthermore, it is framed in the present tolerance and integration policies put forward by the Church and by the most progressive movements of contemporary society. Mention must be made, then, that this specific church was the place of worship of the Zitelle complex, the old boarding school which housed poor girls, saving them from a wretched life”.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Santo Domingo on the occasion of the celebrations for 120 years of diplomatic relations between Italy and the Dominican Republic. The presence in Venice during the 2019 Biennale of Lidia Leon, due to the value of her works, goes in the direction of strengthening cultural relations between the two countries.
Venezia, 20 maggio 2019
l’Associazione Culturale RO.SA.M.
Dorsoduro, Fond. Di Borgo 1141 – VENEZIA
rosam.associazione@gmail.com
Contatti:
Presidente Roberta Semeraro
E-mail semeraro.roberta@gmail.com
Cel. +39 338 485 8411
Vice presidente Iris Peynado
E-mail irispeynado58@gmail.com
Cel. +39 349 8775347
Ufficio stampa e Comunicazione
FG Comunicazione – Venezia
Davide Federici Cristina Gatti
info@fg-comunicazione.it
+39 331 5265149 – 338 6950929
www.fg-comunicazione.it