Encompassed in the collateral events programme of the X Florence Biennale 2015 is, amongst other, the exhibition ‘To Desdemona’, curated by Melanie Zefferino and featuring 28 portraits of ‘contemporary women’ by Franca Pisani – all on display in the foyer of the New Court of Justice in Florence in concomitance with the opening of its centre for gender-based violence victims. Within this event at the Court of Florence Franca Pisani evokes Shakespeare while offering art to fight against gender-based violence.
With the patronage of Florence Civil Room, the solo exhibition is visible from 19 to 24 October 2015.
Born in Grosseto in 1956, Franca Pisani approached art during the years of her childhood, under the guidance of the painter and sculptor Alessio Sozzi (1920-2010). After completing the Fine Arts High School she enrolled in the School of Architecture, but completed her education at the University of Bologna, Faculty of Humanities, D.A.M.S. Department. Thanks to Eugenio Miccini, Franca met Ketty La Rocca (1938-1976) and other artists of the “Poesia Visiva” movement. From that experience stemmed her Album Operozio (1976), a conceptual experimentation presented in Paris, Centre Pompidou, and then in different countries of Europe, the United States, and South America. Since the beginnings of the new millennium, materiality has characterized the works by Franca, who expresses herself through painting, sculpture, and installation art. Mention should be made of her “Sands”, three-dimensional works on canvas, which were exhibited in Brescia and Nîmes in 2005. The artist’s production in which sign prevails appears to have gained momentum in 2010, with the unveiling of the show “Attraversamenti” (crossovers) in Palermo, Palazzo Sant’Elia. In the following years she exhibited internationally in different public spaces, including the Hamburger Banhof Museum in Berlin, the MuMa in Genoa, the Museo del Pane in Milan, and the Museo Marino Marini in Florence. From 2014 one of her paintings is in the self-portrait collection of the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
