On December 7, 2018, the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Italian Ministry of Culture opened INCLUSION/EXCLUSION in the Sacconi Galleries at the Vittoriano. The exhibition, timed to coincide with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the close of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, invites visitors to reflect through art on one of the defining questions of our time: the opposing forces of exclusion and inclusion. Isolation and integration. Indifference and solidarity. Rejection and welcome. Fear and dialogue.
César Meneghetti and 52 artists from Sant'Egidio's Art Workshops bring their voices to bear on issues that trouble and concern not just Italy but the world.
The works on view represent the fruit of years of formation and deep engagement.
Meneghetti has woven his practice together with theirs. His dialogical and formative encounters with the workshop artists set in motion a process of shared responsibility and mutual participation that drew the established artist and the Art Workshops into genuine exchange. The result has been a strengthening of the workshops' power to represent and reshape the world around them, and a liberation of creative capacity among the artists themselves.
In Sant'Egidio's Art Workshops, disabled people give voice to their truth and their understanding of the world. Freed from processes of exclusion and rejection, they become conscious of the full range of artistic means available to them—the legacy of generations of artists—and with that knowledge they comprehend and depict the exclusion of others.
INCLUSION/EXCLUSION brings together paintings, installations, photographs, documents, videos, and texts that address themes touching all of us: segregation, migration, war, urban and existential peripheries, humanitarian work and peace, the defense of rights, and good practices that offer hope.
The exhibition runs through January 31, 2019.
Source: Sant'Egidio