Dante 700th London Catalogue 2021 by I2IArt

DANTE 700TH LONDON 03 – 30 September 2021 Dante Society London 22, Bryanston Mews West London W1H 2DD Catalogue 2021

A PARTERNSHIP ISLAND2ISLAND ART & DANTE SOCIETY LONDON

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Forewords ‘Dante 700th London’ is an artistic initiative organized by the Dante Society London and Island2Island Art dedicated to the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri launched with an open call on DanteDi (25th March 2021, date that coincides with the beginning of Alighieri's otherworldly journey into the afterlife, in 1300). The artists accepted the invitation to explore and interpret Dante's writing and its relevance in the twenty-first century, each with their own unique artistic brilliance. Their original interpretations represent an exceptional panorama that celebrates Dante's anniversary in a special manner and offers a contemporary perspective in the various artistic and multimedia representations. The hybrid exhibition, both virtual and physical, sees the participation of a collective of artists from Italy, the United Kingdom, China, and the United States of America taking place in London at the Dante Society London premises, during the month of September 2021. The diversity of ideas and inspired works of art based on Dante’s writing demonstrates how his influence is relevant in the twenty-first century as it has been in the past centuries, transcending methodologies and contemporary artistic statements in their own fields of representation, from traditional art forms like painting, poetry, and illustration, to augmented reality and 3D interpretations as the new frontier of art and technology. We are honoured to welcome the selection of artists who have responded to our call from different parts of the world, as a testament of the universal response that the name of Dante Alighieri continues to generate. We are happy to contribute with our little initiative to the celebrations of Dante’s genius in the year of his seven hundredth anniversary of his death, in recognition of his everlasting prominence in classic literature which transcends time, space, age groups and sentiments. Quoting our President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella: “Let's not actualise him at all costs, his moral legacy is eternal", I spoke of Dante's universality. That is, of his ability to transcend his time and to provide indications, messages, and teachings valid forever. Dante has been a point of reference and inspiration for generations of Italians regardless of the specific situations of different centuries and eras. I believe that Dante's universality and, at the same time, beauty must be sought precisely in the particular attitude of penetrating deeply into the human soul, describing in an engaging way motion, feelings, emotions. " President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella. (Interview published by Marzio Breda for Corriere della Sera / Cultura, 25/03/2021)

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Curators’ Words The Dante Society London together with Island2Island Art is glad to present the selected works of the artists who have best interpreted the poetry of the Great Poet from Florence. Dante has always been a source of inspiration for artists of all kinds, and today, seven hundred years after his death, he still represents an ideal for those who decide to enter the most hidden depths of the human soul. The works in this catalogue prove the vitality of the selected artists who with their colours, with their verses, with their creations celebrate not only the beauty of Poetry, but above all its value so often underestimated in a society that relegates it only to a small audience. We must not forget that Dante, using the vernacular, wished to involve not only the elite, but all of us. The role of the artists selected by "Dante 700th London" is therefore to continue to do what Dante did seven centuries ago. The Dante Society London hopes to have given the selected artists appropriate visibility and sincere support. Santy Masciaro’ – Founder and Director of the Dante Society London I was delighted that the idea of launching an artistic initiative to commemorate the seven hundred anniversary of Dante’s Alighieri passing to eternal life received an enthusiastic welcome from Santy Masciaro’ at the Dante Society London. I felt that he could have been a lovely addition to all the brilliant initiatives and events planned all over Italy and many parts across the globe and taking place throughout the whole of this year. Although modest in size and lasting only for the month of September 2021, it traces an important cultural milestone in the calendar of events of the Dante Society London and a significant achievement for Island2Island Art in terms of establishing a cultural connection of such relevance. I feel honoured to receive the trust of the Dante Society London and participating artists, without their support and Dante’s inspired artworks, this exhibition would have remained only a beautiful thought. The quality of artworks presented is of such brilliance and offers a variety of technical interpretations and medium reflecting on Dante’s contemporary influence and reach across multiple disciplines. I hope to have provided the artists a well-deserved exposure to their amazing artworks, inspired poetic words and visuals. It is wonderful to have a connection to them all in the name of Dante who continues to inspire excellence in beauty and unity through artistic inspiration. A heartfelt thank you to the Italian Institutions of the City of Florence and Municipality of Ravenna for granting their patronage to this initiative. Rita Carta Manias – Director of Island2Island Art

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Dante 700th London Prize Jury Alexandra Lawrence, lecturer in the Humanities at several American and British universities in Florence, in addition to being an accredited guide for Italian museums and archaeological sites. Dario Pisano, teacher, writer, essayist and ‘dantista’. Simone Spagnuolo, composer of music for concerts, theatre, opera, ballet, film and multimedia, performing his music in internationally known venues and festivals all over the world.

Patrizia Poggi, passionate about art, literature, poetry, theatre, music and history, Patrizia is always committed to the dissemination and enhancement of culture. For over twenty years she has worked at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Pinacoteca of Ravenna, dealing with the organization of art exhibitions. “It was a difficult task because all the works are of great quality but above all presented with different techniques and styles: painting, poetry, artificial intelligence, comics, digital art ... and finally works by artists and educational works by a group of chemistry students. All made with great commitment. It is extraordinary that after 700 years Dante is still an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Dante is alive and his message is universal. Although the Divine Comedy is full of allegorical meanings, the power of images overcomes the abstraction at the base of the poetic structure, opening everyone's imagination. And the exhibition at the Dante Society London proves it. Thank you again for being involved in the programme of your celebrations.” P.P. (23/08/2021)

Our most heartfelt thanks to our judges for supporting Dante 700th London initiative.

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Artist Name Bianca Froese-Acquaye Depina Symeou Emilio Guazzone Francesco Filippini Giuseppe Pippino Ilua’ Hauck da Silva

Artwork Title Dante in Despair Beatrice The Beautiful La Divina Commedia. Inferno. Dante Alighieri (complete poem) Emilio Guazzone (graphic poem) The Gems of Dante’s Comedy What do they know? Questa Sciaurata

Jackie Carter

Sacred Spaces

Jackie Carter

Sempre Donna

Kat Mustatea

Videopolis

Laura Parker

Release

Louise Marchal

The Turning Point

Maurizio Coglia

Imago Dantis Inferno

Michela Papavassilliou -Mikaya Petros Massimo Missiroli & Paolo Ranbelli Rocco Epifanio Shadi Almualem

Dante and Beatrice Eden Dante’s Inferno Collana Divina Commedia Sei la più Bella Opera d’Arte

Teresa Cecchi and class

Inferno: Dante Condemns Materialism and Alchemy

Teresa Cecchi and class

Purgatorio: Soul Purification and Chemical Purification

Teresa Cecchi and class

Paradiso: Chemical Show of the Trinity Mystery

Ying Zheng

Out of the Inferno

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Bianca Froese-Acquaye DANTE IN DISPAIR Digital Print on Canvas, 2021 (120 x 120 cm) (Unframed)

“With Tangerine Dream's composed electronic opera "La Divina Commedia" I had the honour to create a 16-part large-format DANTE SERIES - acrylic paintings on canvas. Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy impressed me enormously - I found so much truth and perspective in this literary mixture of social criticism and hope for the human being by following a certain inner path and turning to the light in life. Dante's work will always be topical. My acrylic paintings - created in neo-cubistic style on canvas - are representing parts of the story from Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. The path of the human being Dante described in beautiful verse form is - from my point of view - that essential and goes conform with the well-known sentence, which was inscribed at the anthic temple of Apollo: "Man, know thyself." It would be a great honour for me to be a part of the big Dante exhibition in London and to celebrate the maestro.” BFA

Bianca Froese-Acquaye (German-Ghanaian descent) lives and works in Berlin and Vienna. Besides her painting and other art projects she runs the music label EASTGATE MUSIC & ARTS representing the worldwide known electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream that her husband Edgar Froese founded in 1967. Currently she is organizing and curating international exhibitions for the band: ZEITRAFFER at the BARBICAN MUSIC LIBRARY in London (prolonged until 15th December 2021). The touring exhibition project shall go via Paris, Warsaw, New York, Los Angeles etc. and end in Berlin with the setup of a SOUND ART museum for the pioneers of electronic music (tangaudimax.com).

Website: bianca-froese-acquaye.com

Barbican Show

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Despina Symeou Beatrice The Beautiful Photopolymer Etching hand finished with gold pigment, 2021 (38cm x 46cm) (Framed)

“Dante's unrequited love for Beatrice inspired his ground-breaking love poetry and her death at such a young age only elevated her to Goddess proportions. This is a portrait of Beatrice in profile, she is looking heavenwards, with a golden aura surrounding her and the gold hair ornamentation signifying her purity and status above all other women.” DS Despina Symeou is a Painter~Printmaker who lives and works in London. After the study of art forms focusing on fine art, printmaking and photography, Despina specialized in Jewellery Design, gaining a B.A.Hons Degree from Middlesex University. In recent years she has returned to the two-dimensional formats that had originally fired her imagination, predominantly in etching. The human form has been her preferred starting point for most of her projects and an eye for the interesting and sometimes unexpected elements add to the narrative as the work progresses. ‘I use photography almost daily to record anything that catches my eye. The colour of the sky, the shape of a tree, but primarily I enjoy people watching and using that photographic moment to begin a narrative. Whether I apply ink to an etching plate or blend paint for a screenprint, it follows the same thought process as painting on canvas or paper. From observation to translating my inspiration into an artwork proves to be a fascinating and instructive practice. Ultimately, it is the human form which interests and challenges me the most.” Despina began showing her figurative work in 2010 with her solo show Skin Shapes. Since then, she has exhibited her work in and around London with the Printmakers Council, biannually shows work at The Affordable Art Fair UK and as a member of Artcan, collaborates with artist’s groups which enables her work to reach a wider audience. In 2018 Despina was shortlisted artist for The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Many of her paintings and prints are in private collections worldwide and her etchings are held in the Victoria & Albert Collection Fund and the Scarborough Museum Trust. Prize winner for Island2Island Art 2020 at the Velorose Gallery,Barbican

Social Media: @despinasymeou_art

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Emilio Guazzone La Divina Commedia. Inferno. Dante Alighieri (complete poem) Graphic poem, 2020 – 2021 Edizioni Voilier

“It is the ambitious, as well as light-hearted project to illustrate Hell Dante, on the 700th anniversary of Dante's death. Ambitious because it intends to re-propose the full text of the Divine Comedy, drawing a board every 4-5 or 6 triplets. Light-hearted because he humorously interprets the poem, without change in any way the text or the original meaning. It is not a comic, it is not a picture book. It could be defined as a graphic-poem. Or a version of the Comedy with graphic notes instead of those written and with many references to the history of art.” EG Emilio Guazzone (AllegroGuazz), is a returning cartoonist, and from a long journey. He was born in Florence in 1964 and currently lives in Fiesole. After graduating in architecture and a PhD on the relationship between music and architecture, he began a design activity for concert halls, theaters and auditoriums, collaborating with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop on the projects of the Paganini Auditorium in Parma and the Music Park of Rome. As an individual designer, he created the Fiesole Auditorium, which is nearing completion, and published some articles on the subject. He also had experience in teaching design for architecture in a university setting in Florence and Rome. For some time he has started drawing more assiduously, returning to his old passion for comics and humorous drawing, with traditional and digital techniques, participating in various competitions and winning some. During 2020 and partly in 2021, for the 700th anniversary of Dante's death, he created the illustrations of Dante's hell. It is a “graphic poem” of about 380 drawn boards which, leaving the original text unaltered, is also a sort of drawn commentary on the poem. "The divine Comedy. Inferno” was published for Edizioni Voilier in 2021. Social media: @guaxxo

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Francesco Filippini The Gems of Dante’s Comedy Illustration, 2021

(46 x 33 cm) (Framed)

“The idea for the design comes from the images made by Gustav Doré in the 1850s. I added the gems because the Divine Comedy is a veritable treasure trove: containing rubies, topazes, emeralds, sapphires, pearls and diamonds, as well as crystal, amber and glass. Most of the references to gems can be found in the Paradiso, the Canticle of Light, in which Dante makes abundant use of illumination on objects in the form of reflection, refraction and shadow to convey a variety of metaphors and concepts – pearls, the intellectual lustre of the wise; rubies, souls of Christian warriors; diamonds, fortitude and steadfastness; and the sapphire, emblematic of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven. I emphasized the magic which the gems would assume if we looked at the Divine Comedy in this manner. The central gem consists of a top and bottom pyramid (in crystallography, each is known as a dodecagonal pyramid) each having 12 facets, which are multiples of three, like the Holy Trinity, the terza rima structure of the Divine Comedy and the Apostles. The facets converge at the top and point toward the sky, the symbol of Paradise. The bottom pyramid points downward, which is the Inferno. They meet in the middle, the focal point where our gaze rests and signifies those living on Earth and whom some define as Purgatory. The other gems are not perfectly spherical and have imperfections. This references the prevalent form of gem cutting in Dante’s era, when stones were buffed into a cabochon form (no facets). The faceting techniques just being introduced from the Far East would eventually become the norm. These irregular gems symbolize the souls who ascend to Heaven and therefore to perfection. But, like the souls, who are marked by original sin, these gems will never perfect spheres. It is these marks, however, which give them the characteristics which make them unique. And so, it was Doré, in the Art Nouveau period, who was largely responsible for the imagery we associate with the Divine Comedy today. Prior to him, there had never been any representation in so clear a manner. The written word of the Divine Comedy, united with Doré’s visual representation is so potent that even today, if we imagine passages of the Bible which cite the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, we instantly recall the images which were described by these two artists.” FF

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Francesco Filippini was born in Naples, Italy in 1993. At sixteen he directed his first animated short "Orkiestra". In 2013 he was a named collaborator on a short film of the Zecchino d’Oro with MAD entertainment. In 2015 he moved to New York and worked as Art Director for Bill Plympton, where among various projects, his work on "The Loneliest Stoplight" was in competition for an Oscar and awarded the gold medal of the "Society of Illustrators". He returned to Naples to collaborate with MAD Entertainment where he writes, draws and directs various shorts: "Pig Symposium in D minor" nominated for the David di Donatello, "Là Dove la Notte" (Sky Arte), "The Cow in the Sky", "The Keeper of the Wind". He worked on the feature film “Gatta Cenerentola”, winner of two David of Donatello awards, and on “The walking liberty” co-writing the story. At the same time, he continues as an illustrator for publishing, winning the Best Cover and Interior Book Design at the USA Best Book Awards for "Tweeting Da Vinci" and designing covers for "Leonardo Da Vinci Cartographer" and "Leonardo Da Vinci Geologic Representations in the Virgin and Child with St. Anne".

Francesco Filippini, Napoli 1993. A sedici anni dirige il suo primo corto animato “Orkiestra”. Nel 2013 Firma un corto dello Zecchino d’oro con MAD entertainment. Nel 2015 si trasferisce a New York, lavora come Art Director per Bill Plympton. Tra i vari “The Loneliest Stoplight” gli varrà la medaglia d’oro della "Society of Illustrator" Torna a collaborare con MAD Entertainment dove scrive, disegna e dirige vari corti: “Simposio Suino in re minore” candidato ai David di Donatello, “Là dove la notte” (Sky Arte), “La mucca nel cielo”, “Il custode del vento". Lavora al lungometraggio “Gatta Cenerentola” vincitore di due David, e a “The walking liberty" cofirmando il soggetto. Nel contempo continua come illustratore per l’editoria, vincendo l’Interior Book Design agli USA Best Book Awards per “Tweeting Da Vinci” con la stessa autrice pubblica "Leonardo Da Vinci Cartographer " e "Leonardo Da Vinci Geologic Representations in the Virgin and Child with St. Anne"

Social Media: @francesco_filippini

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Giuseppe Pipino What do they know? Poetry, 2021

What do they know those who did not grow up in Naples in the 1950s, together with Totò, Edoardo, Sergio Bruni and Carosone, that did not pass under the great statue of Dante Alighieri every days, to go to school in Piazza del Gesù, they that have not learned the poems of the Marquis Caccavone and have not seen the girls come out loud from the Pimentel Fonseca in front of the solemn arches of the Monastery of Santa Chiara, they that have not traveled all the decumani of the Corps of Naples, that did not make fun of the statues of the kings of Naples and rice from the nearby Commander's artichoke fountain, they that did not skip school, in the first days of spring, to go to Santa Lucia, Mergellina or Capo di Posillipo, and did not first flirts in the Capodimonte Wood and in the Astroni one, kings and emperors hunting places? What do they know about the ancient Seiano gallery and they did not walk it, in the footsteps of Melville, looking out from time to time on the Trentaremi beach to see the island of Lucullian dinners and Roman conspiracy, that were not in the Posillipo one remembering Goethe, that did not stop at Virgil's tomb, together with Petrarch, trying to explain who is that Leopardi lying next to him, that have not seen, even with the mind's eye, the atheist Boccaccio kneeling in the nearby church, before which the populace forced another famous atheist to take off the limp South American hat from his head, and they that did not see the crowd thronging, shouting and devout, to demand the dissolution of the San Gennaro blood, even after the Church had decided he was no longer holy? What know those who haven't lived through the whole coast “from Procida to Resina”, they did not scrape mussels from the docks of the Roman port of Baia not yet discovered, who have not stepped on the fumaroles of the Solfatara and they did not see the crystals of sulfur and cinnabar forming, did not spend Monday in Albis at the Madonna dell’Arco, at Capo di Miseno or in the huge park of the Caserta Royal Palace, who have not collected clams and snails in the Caiola little bay, they that weren't stung by sea urchins and bitten by an octopus in Nisida, that have not caught oysters off the Mergellina fountain, ©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

did not swim around the Aragonese castle of Ischia, in the evening, to hear the song of the female snake, and they that did not swim in the Blue Grotto of Capri passing through the underwater cave together with fish and the sun's rays? What do they know about the Gambrinus donuts, the sfogliatelle from Scaturchio and the babà from Bellavia, the Port’Alba pizza folded into a booklet and devoured in front of the library opposite, a stone's throw from the Conservatory? What do they know about the yung daughters' calzone at Porta Capuana, and about spaghetti with clams from Borgo Marinaro, eaten listening the Neapolitan posteggia mingle with the waves and looking at the prison of the last Roman emperor, those who have not eaten mozzarella in Mondragone, mussels to Fusaro and roasted mullet fish on the Licola beach, who have not collected "stones" on the slopes of Vesuvius sneaking and devouring the biggest apricots in the world, who have not tasted figs on the hills of Sant’Agata looking now at one or the other of the two gulfs below? What do they know who hasn't seen the last floats to spread the new Piedigrotta songs throughout the city, that have not seen the Vesuvius extinguish far away and take shape of the mountain that a soul seems, resigned and tired, who have not seen the moon to shine in Marechiaro and to shimmer in Santa Lucia or on the fragrant Capo di Posillipo where the heart has found a home and became a heart, this heart, who have not lost their sighs for a desperate passion in front of the low window of a cruel mistress? And, of the Gabriele d'Annunzio passionate vucchella, of the eyes that shine like stars and reason without speaking, of the cardillus screaming jealous of the poet's verses, of the Piccirillo tree and the pink house above the Camaldoli, of the amorous battles of the guarracino who went around the sea … What the hell do they know? (Partenopeo in Esilio)

Giuseppe Pipino was born in Naples in 1942 and has lived in various parts of Italy, mainly in Genoa and Milan. He currently lives in the countryside in the municipality of Rocca Grimalda (AL). In 1975 he obtained a Degree in Geological Sciences from the institutes of Geology and Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the University of Milan. He later extended his studies as a collaborator of the National Research Council. In his long career as an expert and researcher in minerals and geological sites, and editor of the Italian Mineralogical Review He is the author of numerous publications related Italian mining, mineralogical, hydrogeological and historical-mining. While traveling and working in many parts of the world, he has never forgotten his native Partenope (Naples) where, in adolescence, his life was strongly marked by the daily passage under the great statue of Dante Alighieri, to go to school: in the darkest moments of future life, he will always take refuge in this memory, composing poems signed as Partenopeo in Esilio. ©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Ilua’ Hauck da Silva Questa Sciaurata

Photography on Aluminium, 2021 (90 x 60 cm) (Unframed)

These wretched souls were never truly alive. They now went naked and were sharply spurred by wasps and hornets, thriving all around. The insects streaked the face of each with blood. Mixing with tears, the lines ran down (…) Inferno 3:64-68

“Questa Sciaurata is the first visual work inspired by the Commedia I have made since I began studying it in September 2019. I do not usually employ photography in my practice, but Dante has compelled me to experiment with previously unexplored media. Questa Sciaurata, as the title indicates, is a specific exploration of the wretchedness, grief, horror, and gore of Inf3:64-68, and, more broadly, a visual consideration of the punishment for the sin of apathy as presented in Inferno 3. For Dante, the apathetic are to remain unnamed, unidentified, and left in oblivion – they deserve no attention due to their failure to make choices during their earthly lives (Inf3:49-51). Historically, artists including Giovanni di Paolo, Priamo della Quercia, Signorelli Luca, Michelangelo, Eugène Delacroix, Alexander Litovchenko, William Blake, and Gustave Doré, have visually responded to the ‘setta d'i cattivi’ or ‘questi sciaurati’ (Inf3:62 and 64) by depicting a multitude of people in their works. The drama and convolution of multiple contorted bodies and/or agonised facial expressions as portrayed by the Old Masters poignantly convey - and often romanticise and eroticise - the bleakness and misery suffered by those who become yet another nobody lost in a ‘worthless mob’ (Inf3:62 ‘setta d'i cattivi’). However, the horror of being confronted with just the one severely stung, profusely bleeding, anguished and tormented apathetic seemed to be more pertinent and speak more powerfully in our age of heightened individualism. Therefore, while doing my best to stay true to the text and retaining its poetic woe and stinging gore, have chosen to single out and identify one apathetic, and thus create a brutal, yet intimate and introspective image that potentially offers scope for self-reflection. For this, I could not have used a model or depicted an imaginary person. I had to work with my own image and self, questioning my personal choices or lack thereof. Dante the author invites us to reconsider ourselves and our life journey through Dante the pilgrim’s journey, so it felt right to, at least in part, adhere to Dante the author’s strategy. Through Questa Sciaurata I present the general and unspecified reality of ‘questi sciaurati’ of Inf3:64 through the particular: It is me. And it could be you.

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Special thanks to my Dante study group and our dear Dante teacher Vittorio Montemaggi, as well as to Robin Kirkpatrick, whose translation of the Commedia and commentary I work with.” IHdS

Iluá Hauck da Silva is an Anglo-Brazilian artist based in London. She received her BA (Hons) in Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London (2002), and her MA in Christianity and the Arts from King’s College London (2020). She is also a qualified glass maker. Hauck da Silva has been exhibiting internationally since 2009 and has held solo shows at the National Trust Sutton House, Brompton Cemetery Chapel (The Royal Parks), The British Optical Association Museum,and the Museu Padre Lima, among other institutions. She has also held various art residencies and has been nominated for art prizes including the Aesthetica Art Prize (2013 and 2018), and the Winter Pride Awards (2015 and 2016). In 2021, the artist was a recipient of the Arts Council England grant Emergency Response Fund for Artists. Her work features in public and private collections worldwide. Hauck da Silva’s practice focuses on the conundrums of the human condition. Greek Mythology, human anatomy, Christian Iconography and narratives, Dadaism, Surrealism, the Old Masters, and Medical imagery are some of the visual and theoretical sources which inform her creative processes. She works across a wide variety of media, including glass, body casting, digital techniques, and mixed media.

Website: iluahauckdasilva.com

Social Media: Instagram: @iluahauckdasilva/ Twitter: @LuHauckS

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Jackie Carter Sempre Donna Print and Stitch, 2021 (104 x 43 cm) (Framed)

This work focuses on the female characters featured in The Divine Comedy. From the floating Francesca, the humble Pia to the force of Beatrice, we are all reflected in their narrative. While many are drawn to the images of Inferno or the light of Paradiso, this work pays homage to the gentle female energy present in Dante's writing. The double image reflects the movement of the women within the cantos.

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Sacred Spaces Stitch, embellished felt, dye, 2021 (60 x 45 cm) (Unframed)

This work compresses the pilgrimage that Dante experiences throughout The Divine Comedy. From the dark wood to the celestial heavens. The shapes echo the circles Dante travels through. The blues featured pay a homage to the Virgin and her guiding hand in Dante's story. The piece focuses on the landscape, the theatrical stage rather than the players. Moving through places, habitually, they become sacred and ritualistic. The reading of Dante brings us to a landscape of shade and light, a true reflection of ourselves through the spaces he explores. We begin to see ourselves in each character, laid bare. The narrative that Dante weaves brings us in a circular motion, spiralling us up towards the light. The female presence is ever felt. A constant guide. These women deserve their moment, caught in the essence of their true selves, as celebrated by us as they were by the genius himself. It is hoped that the movement alluded to in the work echoes the movement of the figures throughout The Divine Comedy.

Jackie Carter is a textile-based artist living and working in Ireland. She graduated with a BA (Hons) from The National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1998. She completed her MA (Hons) in Limerick School of Art and Design in 2014. She is Head of Art in a Further Education College since 2000. She has participated in Art Education Reform and Development at all levels. Jackie has exhibited widely in Ireland and has had a solo show in Florence, Italy. She organises an annual educational trip to Florence for art students.

Social Media: @jackiearrt

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Kat Mustatea Voidopolis Augmented Reality book, 2020 – 2021 Digital Prints and Instagram Live Stream

“Voidopolis is a digital performance about loss and memory that is currently unfolding on my Instagram feed (@kmustatea). Started July 1, 2020, the story is a loose retelling of Dante’s Inferno, informed by the grim experience of wandering through NYC during a pandemic. Instead of the poet Virgil, my guide is a caustic hobo named Nikita. Voidopolis makes use of augmented language, generated in this instance without the letter ‘e’. The images are created by algorithmically “wiping” humans from stock photography. The piece is meant to culminate in loss, so will eventually be deleted from my feed once the narrative is completed. By ultimately disappearing, this work makes a case for a collective amnesia that follows cataclysm. Two additional parts after Voidopolis (corresponding roughly to Purgatorio and Paradiso, comprising the remaining two parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy). Each of the subsequent sections will have their own distinct language constraint and visual style, establishing each its own mood of increasing hope as we emerge from pandemic (aka, return to an uneasy kind of Paradise/normalcy). Voidopolis is also an augmented reality book. The printed book will contain garbled text and imagery, which animate and become intelligible when viewed through a custom smartphone AR app—a format in keeping with the multimedia nature of the original project.” KM Kat Mustatea is playwright and technologist whose language and performance works enlist absurdity, hybridity, and the uncanny to dig deeply into what it means to be human. She has written plays in which people turn into lizards, a woman has a sexual relationship with a swan, and a one-eyed cyclops tries to fit into Manhattan society by getting a second eye surgically implanted in his head. Her TED talk, about puppets and algorithms, unpacks the meaning of machines making art. She co-curates EdgeCut, a live performance series that explores our complex relationship to the digital, and is a member of NEW INC, the art and tech incubator at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Her most recent project, Voidopolis, won the Arts and Letters "Unclassifiable" Prize for Literature and has been exhibited internationally in a variety of digital and physical formats at New Images Festival (Paris), TheGrid: Exposure Festival (San Francisco), ELO: Electronic Literature Organization (Bergen, Norway), among others; the project will premiere as an augmented reality book at the 2021 Ars Electronica Festival. She speaks and writes frequently about cutting-edge technology and art. Social Media: @kmustatea

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Laura Parker Release Acrylic on Canvas, 2021 (60 x 60 cm) (Unframed)

“Having studied Dante since my schooldays, I have always had a deep love of his energetically visual poetry. Many famous artists have been inspired to portray Dante’s vision in La Divina Commedia, from Botticelli to Blake, from Rodin’s Gates of Hell to Dali’s extraordinary watercolours. As many have found, Inferno offers even more to the artist’s imagination than Purgatorio and Paradiso, with swirling visions of Hell and the people who populate its tortures. One of my personal favourites is the fascinating series of drawings of Inferno by Botticelli – he seemed to have such fun portraying all those horrors and torments. The direct inspiration for my painting “Release” were the closing lines of Inferno, which I sought to portray in an imagined landscape, capturing the sense of wonder and release that those final lines impart: “Lo duca e io per quel cammino ascoso intrammo a ritornar nel chiaro mondo; e sanza cura aver d'alcun riposo, “salimmo sù, el primo e io secondo, tanto ch'i' vidi de le cose belle che porta 'l ciel, per un pertugio tondo; E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.” *

In approaching the work, I wanted to create a landscape that evokes a sense of light and wonder in the distance, so different from the threatening visions of Hell that have gone before in the epic poem. There is, I hope, a sense of rising, leaving behind the horrors experienced on the journey through Hell, and the delight of gazing upon a bright and welcoming world. ©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

I began this artwork with rather random applications of jewel-like colours, and gradually created the sense of a landscape. The acrylic colours were built up slowly and merged, painted over and blended again to produce subtle contrasts and tonal relationships. The dark foreground conveys an ominous sense of what has been left behind and what is below. The feeling of menace is enhanced by the bleak vertical tree shapes rising up and piercing the space. Beyond, an enticing and dramatic brightness in the distance draws the viewer towards a place of hope and deliverance, just as those last lines of Inferno do. The whole composition is illuminated and energised by an intense luminosity, offering the viewer a personal interpretation of Dante’s world where our individual sensibilities might meet. From the darkness of the despairs of Hell, in my painting light flickers on a watery reflection and leads the eye towards the ‘Release’ experienced at the far horizon. * The Leader and I entered on that hidden road to return into the bright world; and without caring to have any rest we climbed up, he first and I second, so far that I saw through a round opening some of the fair things that Heaven bears: and thence we came forth to see again the stars. Translation John D Sinclair (Oxford University Press, New York, 1961)” LP

Laura Parker is a self-taught artist and painter based in London. Laura enjoys depicting the world around her, from dramatic underwater views to expansive landscapes, and intimate still-lifes. Originally a historian of art and architecture, then a curator and consultant in the architectural field, she turned later in life towards the direct experience of creating artworks herself. Laura works predominantly in acrylics or oils, but also explores other materials. She uses her love of colour to enhance and add drama, so bringing energy and vitality to a painting and helping to communicate her artistic vision. In the spring of 2021 Laura’s underwater painting “In Deep” was featured in the W1-Curates ‘Light It Blue’ campaign supporting the NHS, illuminating the expansive glazed frontage of Flannels shop on London’s iconic Oxford. This exposure led to a number of articles in diving and local publications, as well as an interview on the BBC World Service Radio’s Newsday programme. Since then, Diver Magazine has published a 3-page article about Laura’s dive-inspired artworks in the June 2021 edition. Laura is represented by Woolverton Gallery (Woolverton, Bath), and BobCat Gallery (London). Laura is a member of ArtCan and Richmond Art Society.

Social Media: @lauraparker_uk

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Louise Marchal The Turning Point Oil on Wooden Panel, 2021 (60 x 80 x 3.3cm) (Unframed)

“Turning Point’ takes its inspiration from Canto 32 of The Purgatorio when the Gryphon takes the cruciform arm of the chariot to the wretched barren tree of Eden. Taking the rainbow as the binding promise of God’s mercy and the Gryphon, (representing Christ), as the light of the world, this tells of the moment of forgiveness. The saving grace represented by the Gryphon’s touching the tree with the cross is central to the vision of God, as represented in the diagrammatic representation of sight at the right. The touch of grace is only the beginning of the expanding spectrum of mercy behind it. I also wanted to convey the simplicity of the message of love and forgiveness as seen within the context of Dante’s highly complex imagery and thought. The painting is complex, but it pivots on one moment - that touch of grace that redeems, and which seems central to the Divine Comedy as a moment when all can change.” LM Louise Marchal (b.1972 Ripon, UK) is a visual artist and writer working in North Yorkshire and is currently a practice-based PhD. researcher in Fine Art at the University of Leeds (The Transcendental Aesthetic: Nineteenth Century Revivals in the 1960s). Her work is currently assessing the lineage of imagery in these revivals and draws on Ruskin, Rossetti and Morris’s Italian inspiration as well as the influence of visionaries such as William Blake and Aldous Huxley. Predominantly a painter, Louise also works in the expanded field of film, print and installation. Louise holds an honours degree in English Literature from the University of Glasgow (1995) and until her M.A. in Fine Art (University of Sunderland, 2007) as an artist she was mainly self-taught. Her first major solo show was ‘Play |> Pause ||’ in 2008, the publicly funded and inaugural exhibition at The Fishmarket Arts Centre in Northampton, UK. In 2013 Louise published the first edition of her biography of the female New Sculpture Movement artist Frances Darlington (18801940), her great, great aunt, and has since made work in response to this artist, (e.g., the Arts Council funded ‘Noble Bloods’, (Ripon, 2014), made in response to the shifting values in Darlington’s First World War Memorial). In March Louise delivered a paper on Darlington at The Royal Society of Sculptors’ ‘Pioneering Women Conference’ as part of Women’s History Month. Of all European cities Louise feels the greatest affinity with Florence, and Dante is a particular hero who continues to inspire her.

Social Media: @indigo_polke

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Maurizio Coglia Imago Dantis / Inferno, 2021

Digital Collage Video PVC board prints (A3 size) Postcard size selected collection

"Many years (one life!) have passed since as a child was leafing through the Dante's illustrations by Gustave Doré. I didn't understand the meaning, but they intrigued me. More recently, the curiosity for Dante's figuration has returned with the London exhibitions on Robert Rauschenberg (Tate Modern 2016 – room dedicated to his collages Dante's Inferno) and William Blake (Tate Britain 2019 – room dedicated to his Divine Comedy). Since then, what was previously a latent passion has grown, perhaps never understood and indulged. I now have a vast collection of publications related to the illustrations of the Divine Comedy that extends to the most varied artistic expressions over time to date and beyond, along the latitudes of the poet's visionary grip in the world and in its various geographical-cultural areas. The work I present is the figurative fruit of my strictly visual study of the iconographic themes of the first canto, Hell, through the aforementioned tradition and illustrative plurality. The 34 songs of Hell are represented with a mixed technique: manual, marker and colored ink, and digital, insertions and backgrounds with manipulated images. Real digital collages then. The presentation of the whole work is in slide-show format with musical commentary and is made deliberately simple. I believe that it is the images themselves that are the protagonists and therefore judged. I am not a professional of the brush, nor of digital graphics (in life I am an architect in London). But I hope that my collages will bring out my genuine passion for Dante's illustration.” MC

Digital Collages Slide Show 2021

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Maurizio was born in the Salento peninsula (The heel of Italy) in 1961. The added artistic name KOLLIAS should evoke the Greek origins his family name as for many of the inhabitants of the Griko cultural area of that region. He qualified as an Architect in Naples where he lived for 18 years. His main professional interest is historic buildings conservation and re-interpretation or new design in historic context. He then moved to Ireland in 2000 searching for new opportunities. After 10 Irish years, he moved finally to London where he practises since 2010 to date. As also highlighted in the introduction notes to his artwork, Maurizio can be considered, artistically speaking, a very much excited and enthusiastic ‘baby’. All a new world for him! Social Media: @mauriziocoglia

A3 Composition on show

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Michela Papavassilliou Mikaya Petros

Dante and Beatrice’s Eden Oil on Canvas, 2021 (61 x 71 cm) (Unframed)

“My DNA is surrealist in an abstract figurative soul,” he says. The subjects of his works breathe a dream dimension that absorbs all the contradictions and peculiarities of our era. In his work, Symbolism and Time are investigated, broken down and recomposed in a metamorphic vision, a reflection of a mirrored and parallel world. His recent works at Expo Fiera di Milano 2020, at the Museo Archivio di Mantova 2021, at the Biennale Donna in Trieste, at the Arsenale in Venice. Laguna World, at the Michelangelo Expo Rome 2021 International Award at the Dante Alighieri Award at Palazzo Borghese in Florence and at the Dante Society in London and one of his works has been included in the permanent collection of the Ca 'Pesaro Museum in Venice. Mikaya Petros was born in Milan, class of 1964, daughter of the surrealist painter Petros. He trained in his father's atelier where he made four-handed photographic collages, pictorial and material works. The encounters from the 70s with Andy Warhol, Michele Cascella, Alecos Fassianos, Mimmo Rotella and many characters who have marked our time have been incisive for her training.

Social Media: @mikayapetros #mikayart

©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

Massimo Missiroli & Paolo Ranbelli La Divina Commedia / Inferno Augmented reality pop-up book, 2021

The pop-up edition of Dante’s Inferno by Massimo Missiroli and Paolo Rambelli is an art book unique in its genre because it aims (and manages) to preserve its traditional form as a printed book even if it presents several surprising multimedia solutions. On the one hand Missiroli developed into the third dimension some of the best known engravings created by Gustave Dorè in 1861 so to make the dramatic mood of the Divine Comedy even clearer; on the other one Marco Sabiu composed an original soundtrack that readers can activate by scanning (with their smartphone) the icon wich is placed at the beginning of the book (thanks to the free app Arloopa) in order to have a completely immersive reading experience. Two further icons at the end of the book allow the readers to watch the extracts from the first two Italian movies dedicated to Dante’s Inferno, produced in 1911, whose settings were inspired, in their turn, by the same engravings by Dorè. Again, all his the vibrant engravings are precisely interconnected by the summaries and the quotations from the poem assembled by Paolo Rambelli in order to safeguard its narrative continuity. Lovers of 3D books will finally notice and appreciate that every single pop up page was realized by resorting to a different classical technique (floating layers, scenic books, carousel, up to the spectacular final stand up with the image of Lucipher) which confirms the authors’ intention of creating a fully new kind of book while referring just to classical paper-engineering techniques and thereby maintaining its traditional form.

Video Presentation

Rocco Epifanio Collana Divina Commedia Mixed Metals, 2021

This necklace represents the three kingdoms: in white silver the icy hell, with synthetic stones; in gilded yellow bronze the mountain of purgatory upside down, with synthetic stones and aquamarines representing the river Lete; the spiritual red bronze is paradise, with a pearl that represents universal love. Handcrafted jewellery. Having studied at the School of Art, Epifanio opened his own goldsmith shop and workshop in Rome in 1988 where, making use of his artistic training, he designs and constructs exclusive jewellery rich with artistic and cultural reference to antique and contemporary art. Over the years he has worked with the Vatican museums and various other museums in Rome. Epifanio’s work has been displayed at Kojis, Harrods and Fortnum and Mason London. He has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions including “ The History of Italian Jewellery “ in Osaka, Japan. This year, for the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri he participated in the Dante Alighieri Project which was held in Florence in July. Social Media: @rocco_epifanio @epifanio_gioielli

Shadi Almualem Sei la più Bella Opera d’Arte Book, 2019 1st Edition

“My Italian book (Sei la più Bella Opera d'Arte), written in third rhyme with quotes from the Divine Comedy to be used in any way you want for and Celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death. This book shows the effect of Dante all over the world as I was born in Florence to a Saudi father and lived in New York and went to London for medical conferences. The book begins with a sonnet by Petrarch in Tuscan dialect then in Dante’s third rhyme and concludes with prosimeter: A prose and verse of two sonnets in ABBA ABBA CDE EDC in Dante's Vita Nova style who wrote: “Piangete. amanti, poi che piange Amore”. "Cry. lovers, then crying Love". The book contains the works of my father who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence class 82.”SA

Born in Florence, he lived in New York, now lives in Bologna. He is the first and only Saudi doctor who has passed the examinations of the Italian Ministry of Health for the recognition of the title of doctor. He was accepted for specializations in vascular surgery, University of Bologna. Stage actor with an excellent knowledge of Italian, English and Arabic. He wrote poems from the mind in English: A Fetus Smiles. And also, poems from the heart in Arabic: ُ‫لمحتُ على منضدتها ديوانُ قباني‬

Teresa Cecchi, Arianna Giuliani & Chemist Class - ITT “G. e M. Montani” Fermo (Italy)

Inferno: Dante Condemns Materialism and Alchemy

Purgatorio: Soul Purification and Chemical Purification

Paradiso: Chemical Show of the Trinity Mystery

"Chemistry: a Precious Discovery in the Dantesque Universe" Young chemists from the oldest technical school of Italy, ITT Montani, in Fermo, celebrate the 700th anniversary of Dante's death with a joint scientific and artistic STEAM approach through a chemical focus on the Divine Comedy. The journey starts from Hell and, through Purgatory, arrives at Paradise. We present 3 video pitches relating to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. For each place of Dante's journey, chemistry interprets a specific cultural aspect with surprising and never explored scenic effects. • Connection to Dante's work: the spectacular chemistry we show always matches the Divine Comedy excerpt read in Florentine vernacular. • Originality: to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a chemical approach was used. • Technique: the chemistry necessary to realize the stunning images you see is fine and elaborated. • Intellectual accessibility: we are teachers and students and we tried to make chemical concepts clear; we simply emphasized the importance of chemistry in our lives. • Commentary: please see below the commentary to each video; as regards pronunciation, since our students are not native speakers, we offer to dub the video pitches, if selected. • Personal preference: the artwork we submit deserves attention because it is also an educational experiment; as a chemistry teacher, I felt I could exploit chemistry to bring young people closer to Dante’s masterpiece. I do believe in the importance of introducing humanistic perspectives in the science curriculum for many reasons: firstly, moral reasoning integrated with values and human concerns are crucial in Science; secondly, aesthetically fascinating experiments improve learning because of the emotional involvement of students; thirdly, this artwork is meant to be an antidote to chemophobia, that is a very common attitude also among knowledgeable people

1st video - Hell. “Inferno– Dante Condemns Materialism and Alchemy” We represent features of the Hell of particular interest to chemists. The sixth circle contains the Heretics, including Epicureans. Epicurus taught that the soul ends at death and it is made up of atoms like the rest of the body. Dante condemns Epicurus because of his hedonistic philosophy, and, according to Dante's law of “contrappasso”, the Heretics' punishment consists in spending eternity in the flaming tombs shown in the video with stunning effects. The video reveals the principal neurotransmitters, made of atoms: they are the material base of the cognitive function and emotion; hence, neurochemistry repeats Epicurus’s view of the soul, even if any further question about the self is beyond the Science realm. Dante’s aversion against those who were interested in matter transformation continues in the tenth and final chasm of the eighth circle, where he meets weeping alchemists, who were metal falsifiers. Capocchio, Dante's friend in his school days, burned for alchemy, was among them. In the video pitch, we pretend, as alchemists did, to change base metals into silver and gold! Actually, you can observe the zinc deposition over a copper coin and brass development from their mixture at high temperatures! We acknowledge the importance of alchemy as a pre-scientific form of chemistry since curiosity about matter was crucial to observe new phenomena and observation is the first stage of any scientific rationalization.

2nd video - Purgatory. “Purgatorio – Soul Purification and Chemical Purification”

The video pitch is a parallel between the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory and chromatography, that is the major chemical purification strategy: we show a “chemical purgatory” that is an “ascendant” chromatography. The name actually means color (chroma) and writing (graphy) because Tsvet, a Russian botanist, used this strategy for the very first time in 1905 to separate vegetal pigments. The stunning separation you can observe is based on the different affinities of mixed individual chemical species for two immiscible phases: the paper stationary phase and the alcoholic mobile phase. Mixed molecules, set in motion by the mobile phase, climb the conical stationary phase, as souls climb the Mount of Purgatory during their purification. Tremendous instrumental improvements translated paper chromatography into our sophisticated chromatographic equipment (shown in the video pitch): we are able to simultaneously purify, separate, and quantify countless substances, with a sensitivity in the lower part-per-billion range.

3rd video - Paradise. “Paradiso – Chemical show of the Trinity mystery” In the empyrean, Dante fixes his gaze into the mind of God and sees the unity of the Universe, the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. We represent the Dantesque description of the Trinity by three concentric circles of different colors corresponding to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who proceeds from both as a flame, burning an ethanolic solution of common metal salts.

As chemists, we see in these flames the harmonious dance of the atoms: they are excited by the heat of the flame, then they release the acquired energy via a radiative de-excitation. The chemical phenomenon of light emission is exploited every day in myriads of chemical laboratories to study the heavy metals pollution thanks to the specificity of the frequency and intensity of the light emitted by each metal. Each type of atom emits lights of a specific color based on its identity and gives a more intense light the greater its quantity: in this way chemists can analyze disparate samples! Dante is thunderstruck, we are satisfied because we had the chance to show you how aesthetically fascinating our useful chemistry can be. Chemists from the oldest technical school of Italy celebrate the 700th anniversary of Dante's death with a joint scientific and artistic STEAM approach. Our artworks are also educational experiments: we felt we could exploit chemistry to bring young people closer to Dante’s masterpiece. The chemistry necessary to realize the stunning images you see is fine and students elaborated chemical concepts to realize the reactivity. Students enjoyed making chemistry aesthetically captivating and working in the labs; we know that aesthetically fascinating experiments improve learning because of the emotional involvement of students. The surprise associated with experiments hooked them. They learned to safely manage reactions; they were supportive and committed. They developed cooperative skills. The biggest hurdles and the hardest challenges were, respectively, the two-hours chromatography development and the flames in the cathedral yard in our beautiful town. Students were proud of their work because to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a chemical approach was used in connection to Dante’s journey. We are teachers and students and we tried to (i) make chemical concepts clear; (ii) emphasize the importance of chemistry in our lives; (iii) introduce humanistic perspectives in the science curriculum because moral reasoning integrated with values and human concerns are crucial in Science. Students followed directions but proposed their own ideas, they stayed on task, and completed their work in 30h of after-school activities

Ying Zheng Out of the Ante-Inferno After Gustave Doré’s Charon, the Ferryman of Hell

Fear not the wrath of God! Those who are beckoned here Know better than to comply. Below the sullen skies, Where stars hardly survive, Stand pale precipices Guarding the dim muzzle Of a deadly, sodden Passage, and listening To it ceaselessly burp, Bellow, bawl, and belch Out a whirl of white spume. Forward! Forward! The oar That no one can wrench free From his grip grunts and gasps, Guiding him firmly through The chasm that divides the worlds Of pang and timeless pain. With a wriggle, he’ll go Beyond the claws of those Breakers that have burrowed Their heads into a habitat That has devoted its life To hoarding the hopes of The assembly hoping, In hopeless times, against Hope that Hope, like waves, Will come crashing to where They huddle together The shoreline of Acheron / The first river born of The endless tears tumbled Down the solid gold face Of the Old Man of Crete; The river where water Is not smudged with mud, Blood, ice, or magical mead. Whoa there! You’re making too

Loud a noise! I’m here to help! God gave him strong sinews To make him stand upright And sway his soulless body In time with the craft that Will carry them all up -river to a second life that knows not mirth, but Only howls and snarls, Scowls and slouches. Mind you don’t push and shove! Don’t stagger or shuffle! Stand still! I’m here to help! Before his voice echoes Back, the prow veers sharply, To the right, throwing the hull Headlong into the jet-black Chops of Hell. Grizzled hair, partly falling in curls To the left side of his Twisted body, partly hurtling backwards. Eyes, finding it hard not To gush shock at the sight Of the bank seething again. Cheekbones, rising higher Than the sun-clad mountain clad mountain Ravaged by three savage beasts. The gaping mouth, through which A torrent of words is Slicing as he comes closer. Fear not the wrath of God! This is the rallying cry Of those who dared rebel. Minos decides where you Belong, but who is the final Arbiter of your fate? If fearless, how can you Be driven by desires To dive into the dark dungeon? God, as light, has wide arms To embrace those who dare Choose whichever path they like. With infinite mercy, ©Island2Island Art & Dante Society London 2021

He gives us all the right To not always side with him. If not choosing is a sin, Choosing is believing. Take not what turns to you! The gate through which the poet (I see him swivelling His oar and pointing at me.) Came is the only gate Through which you can escape A fate grimmer than that Of both the blind angels And the flag chasing shades Who once chose to stand On either side of the divide. (Outside the secular World where I got lost) Don’t let these words of mine Sing past your ear! Catch them, Follow me, turn and run

(22 June 2019) (Revised in July 2019

Ying Zheng (郑莹 zhèng yíng) is Lecturer in English language and literature at Taiyuan Normal University, Shanxi, China. During her visit to Peking University from 2013 to 2014, she had the opportunity to take a Dante course with Professor Thomas Rendall. In the 2018-19 academic year, she studied a taught M.A. course in Creative Writing at Lancaster University, UK, where she, as a student of Dr. Eoghan Walls and Professor Paul Farley, worked on a poetry portfolio that features ekphrastic poems on Dante and his Divine Comedy. Her honours and awards include: The third place in the 5th International Translation and Interpreting Competition held by Beijing Language and Culture University (2016); the second place in the 2019 National Creative Writing Competition held by the Sun Yat-sen University (2020); the winner of the first Poetic China Competition held by Mindxplorer and School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University (2020). Her most recent publications include three Dante poems, which were posted on Dante Today on 24 October 2020, the English translation of Yang Mu’s poem ‘Loneliness’, which appeared in An Anthology of Chinese Poetry, 2020, and the ekphrastic poem ‘Dante and Beatrice’, which was published in Forum Italicum on 14 June 2021. Currently, she is pursuing PhD studies at Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.

Dante 700th London is an artistic initiative organized by: Dante Society London The Dante Society London promotes Italian culture, language and creativity in London ranging between the forms of art and traditions that made the Bel Paese famous in the world: literature, poetry, music, theatre and tourism. Santy Masciaro’ – Founder and Director of the Dante Society London Originally from Sicily, Santy started his musical career at the Conservatorium of Pescara and then criss-crossing through Europe in a successful career. Living in Germany, France and now United Kingdom, Santy is a successful entrepreneur concentrating his business activities around music, performance, gastronomy and his passion for Dante. In 2019, he opened the Dante Society London to continue his promotion of Italian culture through courses, workshops and cultural initiatives. Social Media: @santymasciaro’

Island2IslandArt Island2IslandArt is an artistic initiative for an exhibition event created with the aim of presenting contemporary works by Sardinian and international artists. Since closing their first event in October 2020, it has grown and developed into fascinating collaborations that extend artistic connections and conversation among different cultures to celebrate each other's heritage, cultural diversity, and human associations. Rita Carta Manias – Curator and Director of Island2Island Art An independent curator originally from Sardinia, living in London since 2014. Alongside her career in adult education and professional training, Rita has fulfilled her lifetime dream of gaining a BA Hons degree in History of Art (Birkbeck University, London), focusing on Italian Renaissance and Baroque period and then completed a Master in Arts Management (London Southbank University). She is an enthusiastic supporter and Operations Manager of ArtCan organisation and an active advocate in fostering collaborations and new opportunities for artists and cultural events. Rita is also a founder member of The Visual Guys association (Sardinia) and NED at Art Culture and Tourism (Nottingham). Social Media: @rcartamanias

Connect and follow us: Website: Island2Islandart.com Instagram: @island2island_art Twitter: @island2islandA Contact: Rita Carta Manias Director & Curator E: rita@island2islandart.com Tel: 07914-687814

Dante Society London 22, Bryanston Mews West London W1H 2DD Website: dantesocietylondon.com Instagram: @dantesocietylondon Contact: Santy Masciaro’ Founder & Director E: info@dantesocietylondon.com Tel: +44(0)774 2207 947

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