Studio Cenacchi Arte Contemporanea presents an exhibition by Elena Franco (Turin, 1973) exploring the Imagines Pietatis held in the Historical Archive of the Monte di Pietà in Bologna, now preserved by the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna.

Imago Pietatis is Franco’s artistic response to this remarkable archive of more than one hundred volumes, each bearing a painted image of the suffering Christ on the upper edge of its pages.

Franco draws on these historic images to create new works that explore solidarity, care and the human condition through a range of different media. Photography provides the common thread, although the resulting works are never photographs in the conventional sense. They take the form of posters, scanned images — some subsequently altered by hand — and digital photographs printed on fabric.

The project culminates in an artist’s book of more than 800 pages, produced in an edition of just three copies.

Avvenire – Bologna 15 maggio 2020
Il Resto del Carlino – Bologna 2 giugno 2020
Artificialis.eu – febbraio 2020
Artificialis.eu – aprile 2020

Elena Franco
Imago Pietatis
Curated by Jacopo Cenacchi

22 January > 14 March
Following the interruption due to COVID-19, the exhibition was extended until Saturday 4 July.

GALLERIA STUDIO CENACCHI
Via Santo Stefano 63
40125 Bologna

OPENING HOURS
Monday–Friday: 9 am–1 pm and 3–6 pm
Saturday and Sunday: closed