Art, with a strong social conscience – and an opportunity to remember a fashion icon such as Valentino Garavani, who recently passed away.
Over the past months, the project “VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos”, by artist Joana Vasconcelos and promoted by the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation, involved NABA Fashion Design Area students in a series of activities with a strong social focus. The project culminated in the opening of an exhibition on 18 January at the PM23space in Rome.
“VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos”: the contribution of NABA students on campus
The contribution of NABA students was developed through a structured laboratory programme held weekly, aimed at producing materials for an installation work. At the Academy’s Rome campus, students worked on creating handcrafted elements made from different materials and colour palettes, which were later assembled to give shape to the artwork exhibited in the exhibition space.
“VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos”: the contribution of NABA students on campus and in external contexts
Beyond its educational role within the Academy, the ambitious project also took on a significant civic engagement dimension, extending to various external contexts through the involvement of a network of partners active in the fields of reception, care, and protection. These included Differenza Donna APS, INTERSOS – Organizzazione Umanitaria ETS, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital and Gemelli Medical Center. Activities took place within reception facilities, protected spaces and healthcare settings, including hospital hospices, involving people living in conditions of vulnerability and social disadvantage.
In these contexts, around fifty NABA students involved in the project took on a tutoring role, guiding working groups with the aim not only of producing the handcrafted elements, but above all of fostering moments of sharing and inclusion. In this framework, artistic practice became a tool for relationship-building, participation and dialogue within settings characterised by fragility or limitations on personal freedom.
A further area of intervention for the project was indeed Rebibbia prison, in the section reserved for women inmates. The activities, carried out on a regular weekly basis, were also delivered with the contribution of NABA lecturer Lucrezia Moro, the tutors provided by the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation, and the Fondazione Severino, a project partner that has long been committed to developing training pathways, social reintegration programmes and cultural initiatives within the prison system. In this context, the laboratory work directly involved the inmates, enhancing artistic experience as an opportunity for listening, connection and inclusion.
The project therefore took shape as a shared process, in which artistic practice moved beyond the dimension of the object to become experience, relationship and the construction of meaning through the involvement of diverse individuals and contexts.
