Exhibitions on paper is pleased to present a solo double-sided edition by Viola Leddi. Primarily using airbrush paint and ceramics as a means of expression, Leddi draws from Italian art history, feminism, internet culture, and her daily life to open up speculations about possible pasts, forgotten female genealogies, and stories yet to be told. This is the first time the artist incorporates silkscreen printing into her working process.

Viola’s Speak to me edition appears to us as a two-way mirror, revealing double meanings in which the symbol is read as a discursive and narrative element. The jeans, too small or too big perhaps, serve as a support for the twilight scene. The sharp reflections of candles (a past birthday?) stand out, their evocative flames and smoke about to blacken a squared-off sheet of paper torn, perhaps, from a schoolgirl’s (secret?) notebook. Calligraphic invocations are answered by emoticons, images or snatches of words, exchanged or wishing to be exchanged, on the other side of the mirror.

Matheline Marmy, 2024