GIULIA NELLI: WHEN MEN HAD ROOTS
From February 7 to March 2, the Casa di Rigoletto in Mantua IT will host the solo exhibition of Giulia Nelli, titled Quando gli uomini avevano le radici (When Men Had Roots). This exhibition features around thirty works from a broader project called Humus. In this project, the artist depicts the underground world as a three-dimensional space where plant and animal communities are interwoven into an extremely complex network of symbiotic relationships. As Barbara Pavan points out, it is “a fascinating microcosm that speaks of cooperation and offers a new perspective on how to face the challenge of survival—by caring not only for one another but also for the entire habitat, moving beyond the outdated vision that placed man at the sole center.”
When Men Had Roots evokes, with a touch of melancholy for a landscape beauty sometimes irreversibly compromised, the importance for human beings of having solid roots that allow them to live with depth and introspection, remaining connected to the earth from which they originate. This requires an attitude of humility, respect, and attentiveness to the needs of nature and fellow human beings.
The artist employs the metaphor of an underground journey — already used in 19th-century utopian literature to denounce the degradation of civilization during the first Industrial Revolution — to address issues related to the environmental crisis and severe soil pollution, while also undertaking a cognitive journey aimed at identifying possible solutions. At the same time, an underground journey represents an inner exploration, a personal quest to rediscover one’s deepest roots and find meaning in existence. It is no coincidence that the exhibition takes place in Mantua, the birthplace of the great poet Virgil, who, in his Divina Commedia, guides Dante through hell on a journey of knowledge and redemption, both personal and universal.
The exhibition path is conceived as a sapiential journey that, descending vertically into the roots, into the humus, “becomes an awakening, a necessary understanding of how indispensable it is to harmonize with the environment and interpersonal relationships, in order to escape the dehumanization and perversion of a nature that must be respected, just as solidarity, which binds us as members of the human civil consortium, must also be honored” (Massimo Seriacopi).
Beyond the significance and universality of the themes explored, Giulia Nelli’s work stands out for her distinctive use of materials. As Silvia Franceschi observes: “The choice of materials, the fabric lacerations, the alternation of voids and solids, light and shadow, and the use of thread. The preferred material, nylon stockings, is disassembled using a technique of rupture and decomposition dear to contemporary art, then reduced to its essential element—the thread—which is worked to construct new balances and harmonies.” The thread, a symbol of tradition and history, also becomes a metaphor for connection and belonging, representing the invisible ties that bind human beings together despite apparent indifference and the difficulty of forging genuine, profound relationships.
Giulia Nelli (Legnano, 1992) graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and obtained a Master’s degree in Exhibition Design (IDEA) from the Polytechnic University of Milan. Winner of the 9th edition of the Cramum Prize (2022), she has exhibited in numerous national and international institutions, including the Museo Costume Moda Immagine in Milan (2023), the Dino Zoli Foundation in Forlì (2023), the Diocesan Museum of Brescia (2023), the GASC-Gallery of Contemporary Sacred Art at Villa Clerici in Milan (2023), Castel Belasi in Campodenno (2023), the Church of the Holy Spirit in Govone (2023), the Underground Archaeological Space in Trento (2022), the Vittorio Leonesio Foundation (2022), the Textile Museum of Busto Arsizio (2022), the Museo della Permanente in Milan (2021 and 2024), the MISP-Museum of 20th and 21st Century Art in St. Petersburg (2020), and the Musée de la Dentelle in Caudry (2019). In 2024, her installation Between Dormant Roots and Arid Stone became part of the Anthropocene Collection at MUSE – Museum of Science in Trento.
The exhibition Giulia Nelli: Quando gli uomini avevano le radici, featuring texts by Silvia Franceschi, Barbara Pavan, and Massimo Seriacopi, will be open to the public from February 7 to March 2, 2025, at Casa di Rigoletto, Piazza Sordello 23, Mantua, IT. The inauguration will take place on February 7, 2025, at 5:00 PM. The exhibition is open daily from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with free admission. For further information, please contact +39 0376 288208.
