Marinella Senatore (1977) is a prize-winning multidisciplinary artist, whose practice combines a collective and participatory dimension, aesthetic research and the transformative power of social engagement.
In 2012, she established The School of Narrative Dance (SOND), a nomadic, free-of-charge and non-hierarchical school, which promotes empowerment and self-education through site-specific movements and narratives associated with public festivals and protests. In a continual dialogue with their surroundings, her works involve a variety of media, including light and sound installations and performance. These light installations, inspired by the luminarie of southern Italy, are created in Puglia using LED bulbs and recycled materials.
Since 2016, her works have been displayed in a number of iconic sites, such as New York’s High Line (2018), the Piazza Duomo in Lecce for Dior’s 2021 Cruise collection (2020), and the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (2020) as well as the ‘Carte blanche to Marinella Senatore’ at the Palais de Tokyo (2022). By incorporating inspirational quotes, her creations transform public spaces into places of meeting, exchange and collective action. As Senatore explains, “the luminarie are like ethereal architectural structures that can build the idea of a plaza even when this plaza doesn’t exist. They can create environments for people to gather, exchange, meet”.
In the light installation Remember The First Time You Saw Your Name (2020), past, present and a possible future come together in a single reflection. Ornamental arches, made up of hundreds of colourful lights, draw attention to the powerful message about the transient nature of time and life, a process that begins as soon as we are given a name. At the same time, the artist deals explicitly with questions about our own identity and feeling of belonging, both individual and collective.