Event

Panel Discussion
a MILDURA ARTS CENTRE EVENT

 
Full details and bookings visit the Mildura Arts Centre website.

Fred L. Gardaphe, Eliana Maestri, Loredana Polezzi, Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo and Filomena Coppola will present in this panel on artistic and literary collaborations that have forged connections across three continents within the Italian Diaspora.

View Presenters' Bios.

View Exhibition Page.
 
Eliana Maestri: Unveiling the foundations of Filomena Coppola’s artwork: love, care and respect for communities of Italians in Australia.
What is so fascinating about Italian Australian artist Filomena Coppola? Not only does the beauty of her art speak for itself, but it also speaks for others: the migrant, the vulnerable, the hard worker, and the environment hosting and accommodating the newcomer as well as the local. Attracted by Filomena’s sensitivity to the multiplicity of voices and colours that enrich the Australian migratory context, Dr Eliana Maestri’s talk will unpack the significance of Filomena’s artistic vein within today’s society. Particular attention will be placed to the context that have inspired Filomena’s artwork and the importance that her personal and familial ties have acquired within her work. The talk will finally place emphasis on the foundations of Filomena’s work, imbued with love, care and respect for individuals as well as communities of Italians in Australia. For this, Filomena’s artwork carries a promise which Eliana’s talk will disclose: the need to praise and remember those whose courage and values have shaped the profile of such a multifaced country as Australia.
 
Loredana Polezzi and Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo: Art, Research & Conversation
Loredana Polezzi and Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo's connection began in 2015, through the Transnationalizing Modern Languages (TML) project, where Loredana was a co-investigator, and Luci presented her paper and live performance at a subsequent conference in Rome, delving into her Master's research project (La Trobe University) on the Calabrian diaspora's threads to North-West Victoria. Since then, their dialogue has evolved, encompassing their artistic and academic pursuits, personal reflections on diasporic history, and their identities. For five chapters cinque capitoli, Loredana and Luci will continue their 'research as conversation', which has been pivotal in reshaping their perspectives on migration, translation, activism, and creativity.
 
Fred L Gardaphe and Filomena Coppola: A Generation Removed – alone together
Fred L Gardaphe will read from his novel A Generation Removed, a series of interconnected stories of a grandfather travelling to the U.S, in the early twentieth century, and his grandson’s return to Italy. This novel began a collaboration with Filomena Coppola who responded to the stories by stitching a personal response of her father’s story in white thread over the printed sheets of each chapter. In conversation, they will each discuss their individual work, their collaboration in which one art responds to the other, and the new work that they are producing.

Image: Filomena Coppola, 'The Journey (air)', 2022. Coloured pencil on paper.