The New Renaissance
a constructive response to the immediate crisis caused by racist attacks in Florence
Exhibition and Initiative
I think we are at a point of human history, where something old is dying, and something new will come. I would like to call it a new renaissance. In 2012, Mark curated an exhibition in one of the most important art spaces in Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio. He motivated a collective of artists and creators, who all joined efforts to implement his idea.
His artistic contribution, the photographic series “The New New World” consists of 10 portraits diptychs. The original renaissance paintings become twins of contemporary subjects who are internationals based in Florence. The reference to the renaissance paintings emphasises on the contribution of immigrants to the Florentine / Italian society.
The exhibition’s intent was a constructive response to the immediate crisis caused by racist attacks in the city. Although the project had the support of The City of Florence, it was publicly displayed only once. Regarding the current political and societal dialogues on the cultural divide, nationalist pride and open racism, the message of the series is an even more critical provocation then ever before.
The collaboration with other international artists was the creative base for putting together the exhibition. Artists contributed their artwork, their faces, their labour, their materials and most importantly their passion for the project. All of them understood the reality of being an “extracomunitario” in Italy.
The photographic series
In “The New New World” series, Mark not only references famous portraits of the past, but he also confronts the images of nobles of the Cinquecento with overlooked, discarded citizens of today. He is translating the immigrant’s persona into a visual language that western culture holds in high regard. Pride in our cultural history becomes the vehicle to examine immigrants differently.
These works propose a new renaissance. They provoke us to overcome social, cultural, religious, economic and ethnic diversity. By looking at each other with empathy in a context we are more comfortable with, we may see passed our social biases. The appropriation of a distinct type of portrait, which is representative of importance, respect and power gives us the vehicle to reach a new point of view. The pairing of the depicted characters forces the viewer to enter a dialogue. It allows us to ask questions about preconceptions of someone’s life, their background and their role in society. We are forced to question our own bias that is triggered by visual clues that differ from our norm.
Why do we still need art to make us see each other
In a globalised or internationalised world, we should be accustomed to diversity. Many of my friends are in interracial relationships, having children of at least two different cultures and facing the complexities of transnationalism. Despite my being part of an international group of people, despite my education, despite being an art historian, despite being in a multicultural relationship myself, I still notice visual clues of differences. I find myself seeing skin colour. I find myself seeing gender. I find myself seeing religion.
As long as we all do, projects like “The New New World” will still be necessary, to open up our minds and hearts, to see what we all are: humans, plain and simple. However beautiful and inspiring, I would wish for a world where we do not need artists to help us understand this basic fact.
Dedicated to the Senegalese community and their friends in Florence, who just suffered from a similar incident to the one that originally inspired the project in 2012.
