The World Will Be Saved, Le Murate Progetti Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy, 2019

Installation. Plants, soil, wood and paint

I created site-specific installations in Le Murate, a former Florentine convent for cloistered nuns beginning in the 14th century. By the late 19th century it was converted into a prison until 1985. This gallery space was the former cafeteria for the nuns. I created a garden (medicinal gardens were often found in monasteries) in this vaulted ceiling room—an architectural form frequently found in monasteries. I wanted to point as well to the hellish penal system in the USA, which disproportionately incarcerates African Americans—could I make a space an ocean away, to honor them? The title makes reference to Dorothy Day’s (American journalist, social activist, and Catholic convert) famous quote “The world will be saved by beauty.”