Two huge, dirty bare feet were painted on the outside wall. Sign of suffering. In the last room, before leaving, a poignant, emotional video. The intimate, yet highly collective, story of a prisoner who leaves her prison. She is free. She sits on a bench in front of the Giudecca canal and looks at a sick, perhaps dying, pigeon. The first is the work of Maurizio Cattelan, "Father", which recalls Mantegna's Dead Christ, the other by Marco Perego and Zoe Saldana. They are two of the artists invited for "With my eyes", curated by Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine, for the Holy See Pavilion for the 60th art exhibition of the Venice Biennale.
It is clear, however, that it is not so much the works that dictate the scene. There is the place chosen - the women's prison on the island of Giudecca - the fact that there will be inmates who act as guides to the visitors (25 at a time for a maximum of four per day upon reservation and the necessary protocols). they gave their consent. Above all, it is an experience that does not leave you indifferent, which leaves a lot of questions once you cross the exit gate. The visit begins with the delivery of documents and mobile phone, with the meeting with the "guide". This time it's Giulia. She enters the café to find the works of Corita Kent, protagonist of pop-art, activist, feminist. She is the only non-living artist. Giulia explains the work. References to the concepts of freedom, of recovery, of taking care of people, of the last ones will return several times. Of someone who may have made a mistake but is still a person.
The artistic collective Claire Fontaine - from one of whose works the curator of the Biennale Arte took the title "Foreigners everywhere" - is present with two works. One is a blow to the stomach. It is the writing in blue letters "We are with you in the night" in the large courtyard. It is a job that is a few years old but has incredible strength if you consider that the inmates see it illuminated by the sunset. There are also the verses of many of the guests of the prison in the works created by Simone Fatta along the external corridor that runs along the walls. To close, the installation by Sonia Gomes in the former internal church and the paintings by Claire Tabouret. They are portraits made on the basis of personal photos made available by the inmates: of the family, of when they were children. The Pavilion, which looks at the latest with new eyes, will be the first destination of Pope Francis' visit to Venice on 28 April.