IN VENICE, LAURA MEGA’S TEXTILE INSTALLATIONS AND THE RECOMPOSITION OF CONTEMPORARY FEELING

The exhibition WHERE MY SOUL COMPILES presents works by Laura Mega and Daniel Pešta at Garibaldi Gallery in Venice, curated by Chiara ModIca Donà dalle Rose and promoted by Fondazione Donà dalle Rose in collaboration with MuMo – Museum Montanelli, Prague.

The project develops an existential and psychological inquiry into the idea of a place – real or symbolic – where the soul gathers, recomposes itself, and ultimately expresses its deepest truth. In a present marked by fragmentation, instability, and widespread conflict, this reflection takes on particular urgency, pointing to the need for an inner space of stillness, emotional clarity, and genuine belonging. The title emerges from the intersection of an archaic spiritual imagination and the contemporary language of “code compilation,” a technical process through which heterogeneous elements are organized into a coherent and functional system; in this sense, the exhibition proposes a reading of human experience, both individual and collective, as a potential for the harmonious recomposition of memories, emotions, and values. The curatorial framework privileges an experiential and participatory approach, oriented toward attentive listening to emotional wounds and social tensions, while fostering forms of authentic connection and transforming aesthetic experience into a space of resonance, sharing, and awareness.

Within this framework, Laura Mega’s practice occupies a central position, unfolding through textile installations that create immersive environments in which the materiality of fabric—soft, vulnerable, and layered—becomes a narrative and emotional device. The gestures of sewing, embroidering, and assembling translate into a practice that intertwines intimate experience with collective memory, evoking processes of care and repair. Her installations activate a direct engagement with the viewer, who is invited to physically traverse the space and confront complex dynamics such as conflict and love, loss, fragility, and shared responsibility; in this sense, Mega’s work offers a nuanced reflection on the contemporary condition, where vulnerability is not only a limit but also a potential for relation and transformation. In dialogue with this dimension, Daniel Pešta’s paintings address the concept of sublimation as a psychic mechanism capable of transforming inner tensions and conflicts into expressive forms, in a perspective that recalls the psychoanalytic tradition; his work engages with the darker zones of individual and collective experience, while still allowing a tension toward possible openness to emerge. The dialogue between the two artists thus unfolds along a line of tension between presence and absence, pain and consolation, interiority and the public sphere, generating a field of experience that simultaneously engages sensory perception and critical reflection.

Laura Mega, an artist who privileges textiles as her primary medium, has long been active on the international scene and has developed a practice focused on themes of emancipation, social justice, and relational dynamics. She trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and at the University of the Image in Milan, founded by Fabrizio Ferri and characterized by an interdisciplinary, sensory-based approach. Her research investigates processes of human development, both individual and collective, with the aim of contributing to more equitable and conscious models of coexistence, through a clear and contemporary visual language that intertwines emotional, social, and political dimensions, often introducing a subtle ironic layer that encourages a critical re-reading of reality. Her work has been presented internationally in cities including New York, London, Seoul, Tokyo, Mexico City, Dakar, Rome, Prague, and Turin; among her most significant projects are La Parola Libera, a relational art intervention developed within the high-security women’s section of Rebibbia prison with the support of Moleskine Foundation, and Cyprus Memory, a site-specific installation in Nicosia marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, supported by the Goethe-Institut and European funds. She is also co-founder of the international project LAZZARO_art doesn’t sleep.

The exhibition also includes a concrete ethical and social dimension: at the end of the project, in November, a selection of works will be part of a charity sale, with a portion of the proceeds donated to Save the Children’s campaign “Stop the War on Children,” aimed at raising awareness of the impact of armed conflict on minors, supporting healthcare, education, and protection initiatives, and promoting children’s rights on a global scale. The textile materials used in the installations were provided by Confezioni Lara, based in San Giuseppe Vesuviano.

The exhibition runs from 6 May to 22 November 2026 at Garibaldi Gallery, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, Castello 1815, Venice. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm between May and September, and from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in October and November. Admission is free.