Viola Leddi's Post-Show Series Examines the Aftermath of Exhibitions and the Western Canon

Viola Leddi's series "Post-Show" (2025) depicts an anonymous exhibition space after a show, with empty white plinths bearing traces of their function. The work engages with the Western art canon, particularly fascist-era Italian painters, and feminist art history critiques. Leddi uses a composite imagery drawing from personal memories, collaborative painting with Kelechi Amaka Madumere and Melissa Steenman, and hobbyist tools. Her technique combines drawing, photography, digital manipulation, 3D modeling, and airbrush, creating a cinematic, homogeneous space. Another series, "Patterns of Translation" and "Patterns of Recognition" (2024), shows her Geneva studio floor from an aerial perspective, incorporating self-representation via reflected legs or shadows. These works include references to Hanne Darboven, Toyen, and Vera Molnár, among others. The article is part of the "Close Up" column, a collaboration between Flash Art Italia and Istituto Svizzero, focusing on artists in residence for Roma Calling 2025/2026.