“Naufragi-Approdi” exhibition in Venice

Lottomatica Foundation is supporting the exhibition “Naufragi – Approdi,” curated by Alessandro Zuccari and conceived by artist César Meneghetti, which is intended to be a profound reflection on migrant journeys and the tragedies of those who have lost their lives trying to reach Europe.

At the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, an evocative exhibition titled “Naufragi-Approdi” pays tribute to the thousands of migrants who lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea. The exhibition, which opened at the same time as the Biennale, was curated by Alessandro Zuccari and realized in collaboration with artist César Meneghetti and the Sant’Egidio Art Workshops, with support from Lottomatica Foundation.

3,129 white paper boats, each representing a migrant who died at sea in 2023, and among them, 130 smaller, red-colored boats symbolizing the children who never had a chance to reach their destination.

Alongside the small boats is a video projecting the names of 240 victims, the only ones identified out of more than 3,000, onto a leaden digital sea, while reflections that emerged from the Sant’Egidio Art Workshops, places of encounter and creativity for people with disabilities, are transcribed onto paper boats donated to visitors. Among them was a particularly poignant message, “You say foreigner and think strange. What if the strange is you?”

A drawing by Marianna Caprioletti, an artist with Pendred’s syndrome, which depicts a 19th-century shipwreck, and a triptych by Roberto Mizzon depicting the safe harbor offered by humanitarian corridors complete the exhibition.