Laetitia Ky's 'L'ambigua Avventura' at Casa Masaccio Explores Black Beauty and Gender

Casa Masaccio, the longest-running contemporary art institution in Tuscany, presents 'L'ambigua Avventura', a solo exhibition by Ivorian artist Laetitia Ky (born 1996 in Abidjan), opening July 6, 2024. The show, curated by Alessandro Romanini in collaboration with LIS10 Gallery, takes its title from Cheikh Hamidou Kane's 1961 novel about identity. Ky's works—photographs, some documenting past performances and others new—focus on her signature 'hair sculptures', where hairstyles are shaped into non-verbal messages, combined with poses referencing European portrait traditions. The exhibition addresses Black beauty, social and cultural consequences, gender, and ongoing discrimination. Opening day events include a workshop-performance 'Empow'Hair: Tessiture di Identità' at 4 PM in Casa Masaccio's garden, where Ky shares her creative process, followed by a talk 'Empow'Hair: tra radici culturali e identità contemporanea' at 5:30 PM at Palazzo d'Arnolfo, featuring curator Romanini, artist Ky, Justin Radolph Thompson (co-founder and director of The Recovery Plan), and Loredana Gbegnikin of The Recovery Plan. Curator Romanini states the exhibition offers a chance to reflect on feminine art and how painting, photography, sculpture, and video become tools for expression and activism for women's rights and Black empowerment.