Un silent forest of shadowy figures. Visitors to the Italian Pavilion will cross it on the occasion of the Biennale Arte 2026 of Venice (which opens on May 9th), mixing their bodies in movement with those of 24 anthropomorphic clay statues. Thus begins the journey within the installation With you with everythingsigned by Chiara Camoni, the first woman to represent Italy in the enormous Tese delle Vergini space, at the Arsenale.
Born in Piacenza in 1974, Camoni has established herself in the international art world with her hieratic terracotta sculptures, Columns And Sistersregally adorned with leaves, pods, dry branches, works that recall archaic, almost prehistoric forms.
His mysterious creatures in Venice will shatter the “glass ceiling” of Italian art. What effect does representing our country at the Venice Biennale have on you?
More than one country, I feel like representing a scene of Italian artists, a lively, varied, super interesting scene, but little depicted and little told. The fact that Cecilia Canziani and I (the curator of the exhibition, ed), a female duo, we are an exceptionality for the Italian Pavilion, it says a lot about how much work there still needs to be done for equality.
The artist Chiara Camoni, 52 years old, the only protagonist of the Italian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale. Photo by Camilla Maria Santini.
Hölderlin denounced the disappearance of the gods in the modern world. Ancient and ancestral divinities populate the rooms where he exhibits his installations. Some statues have a reassuring appearance, others are disturbing. What is the role of the sacred in your work?
The sacred is part of a dimension that we need very much today. I am not referring to a precise, official religiosity. I seek sacredness in the relationship with the reality that surrounds us, in empathy. Animism can be a key to perceiving the mineral, vegetal and animal world as a presence that is not just to be dominated and conquered. Ambiguity belongs to the deities, who we know are benign but also capricious and ruthless, when necessary. A good work of art does not resolve itself into a single meaning, but contains contradictions and opposing elements.
A ceramic sculpture by Chiara Camoni: Sister (Hut), 2022.
His reflection on the feminine, between myth and fable, refers to the unconscious, to the profound relationship with nature. She recognizes herself in the ecofeminist adjective that has been attributed to her?
Partly. Beyond cultural trends, it is interesting to take stock of some highly urgent topics. And ask ourselves questions. How can we work to implement cultural transformations? What choices can we make in daily life? How do we relate to others and the environment? The relationship with nature for me is not idealized, but daily. I live in Fabbiano, a small village in the Apuan Alps, and my house is the last one before the forest. The landscape, the beauty that surrounds me, is often violated by human exploitation.
The exhibition Columns by Chiara Camoni, set up in 2025 at the SpazioA Gallery in Pistoia. Photo by Camilla Maria Santini.
His way of making art does not use the most advanced technology. How does it work?
I don’t think terracotta is any more dated than a video installation. A video can be obsolete, and a wood-carved sculpture very modern. It is never the language itself that creates modernity, but how it is used. I have a particular attention for materials, when I can work them myself. I need direct contact through gesture. I don’t like projects. I get to work and the work “is done” during the creation process.
Little Demons (Pair)2024, by Chiara Camoni. Photo by Camilla Maria Santini.
Her sculptures are almost always made in groups, with other women. Who are they? And how important is the “with”, that is, doing and thinking together?
I work with my neighbors, who over time have become my collaborators. It is a heterogeneous group, in terms of age and nationality. They range from the very young, 20 year olds, to the older, 70 year olds. We meet in my studio, a real workshop. There is a very specific way of creating and thinking when in dialogue. When you “think in presence” you come to different conclusions, and this interests me a lot, it’s like raising the stakes. The artistic result is unexpected. And the wonder that I myself feel at the end, in seeing the form that the works take, is truly the wonder of a discovery.
She also uses recycled materials, old furniture and objects found around. Is it an aesthetic or political choice?
Both. As an artist who adds objects and images to the world, I always feel a strong responsibility for sustainability. It is easier for me to put pre-existing materials back into circulation, often even waste ones, bringing them back to a totally new aesthetic dimension. I don’t start from a project that forms in my mind a priori, but I start from the materials themselves and transform them. Almost like in a dream these starting elements take a surge and, inside me, reveal themselves in another form.
In addition to manual skills and recycling, his poetics focus on the almost alchemical transformation of matter. Where does this artistic vision come from?
For me there is, first of all, the pleasure of childhood play, which artists prolong as much as possible. Mixing colours, making baby food with different materials is something that each of us has done as a child or a child. I don’t feel like I’ve gone that far…
The Venice Biennale will open in a particularly dramatic historical moment, with conflicts in many parts of the world. What capacity does art have to offer a place for reflection?
I wouldn’t talk about reflection but about transformation. An extraordinary ability, which art preserves. A love poem can save a life, a novel can make us radically change our minds about ourselves. When you look at a work something happens. We can be shaken by it, or moved. They are very precious moments, if we still have the ability to welcome a shift within ourselves, in our certainties.
Her partner, Luca Bertolo, is a painter. Is it difficult to reconcile your jobs?
We met 20 years ago, setting up an exhibition together. We have a long artistic and life journey behind us. It wasn’t easy, with the same needs and two children. But being both artists has given us a common area of discussion and mutual understanding, because we share, in addition to everyday life, the same inner world. © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED