ANTONELLA ROMANO
Antonella Romano holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Law and Economics from LUISS University (Rome).
After completing a specialisation course in Pictorial Disciplines at RUFA (Rome University of Fine Arts), she earned a Graduate Diploma in Fine Art with distinction from the Royal College of Art in London. She later deepened her interest in contemporary art, politics, and artistic research, with a particular focus on the performing arts, at HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design and the Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg.
S T A T E M E N T
As an interdisciplinary artist coming from a background in political studies, I rely on visual cues to recognise ambiguity in forms, languages and ethics of representation.
By creating functional redundancies and repetitions as tools for continuous inquiry, I question dominant Western epistemic structures through a combination of techniques including painting, drawing, printmaking, stop-motion animation, and gestural performance. My work explores the emancipatory potential of the artistic process—its inherent ethical and political capacity for resistance—while engaging with the possibilities offered by traditional, ephemeral, and unconventional materials and practices. Through these, I seek to challenge and reinterpret Europe’s logocentric, hegemonic, and archival modes of knowledge production.
My practice lies in political art: an art -and politics- in which the normative dimension of archive-based knowing is archaeologically investigated through the lens of history and iconic representations, embodied knowledge and gesturality.
RESIDENCIES
2025 May-July | LADEMOEN KUNSTNERVERKSTEDER - LKV, Trondheim (NO)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2025 | Premio Arte e Mestieri - shortlisted, curated by Mauro Carrera, Bertazzoni Suzzara Foundation, Mantova (IT)
2024 | BIG SCREEN RCA SHOWCASE, group exhibition, BBC Television Centre, London (UK)
2023 - 2024 | ACROSS & OVER, group exhibition curated by Dr. Kyung Hwa Shon, Daniel Lancaster and Gary Clough, HSBC HQ, London (UK)
2023, 2022, 2020 | Premio Arte e Mestieri - shortlisted, curated by Mauro Carrera, Bertazzoni Suzzara Foundation, Mantova (IT)
2019 | Toys, Solo Exhibition curated by Emiliano Coletta, Teatro di Tordinona, Roma (IT)
2019 | Cramum Prize 2019, Finalists Exhibition curated by Sabino Maria Frassà, Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, Varedo (IT)
2019 | Arte in Arte e Mestieri Award- shortlisted, Bertazzoni Suzzara Foundation, Mantova (IT)
2018 | Virtual Art Museum VAM, Group Exhibition curated by Mauro Carrera
2018 | Salerno Biennale of Contemporary Art, Group Exhibition, Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno (IT)
2017 | LYNX International Contemporary Art Award, Finalists Exhibition, Lokarjeva Galerija– Ajdovščina (SL)
2017 | LYNX Award, Finalists Exhibition, Lux Art Gallery - Trieste (IT)
2015 | Medusa Aurea Award XXXVIII, International Academy of Modern Art (A.I.A.M.), Winners Exhibition, Rome (IT)
2015 | International Biennial of Art and Culture 2015, RomART, International Group Exhibition, Rome (IT)
2015 | Rome Cavalieri, Solo Exhibition curated by Franco Maria Ricci, Rome Cavalieri, Rome (IT)
2015 | Rigenerazioni, Group Exhibition curated by Viviana Vannucci, Contemporary Art Museum MACRO, Rome (IT)
2014 | Materia e Visioni, Micro EXPO Group Exhibition curated by Paola Valori, Plus Arte Puls Gallery, Rome (IT)
PUBLICATIONS
Magazine
Article "Premio Arte 2017" on Arte magazine N. 528, 2017, published by Giorgio Mondadori-Cairo Editore
Catalogue
ACROSS & OVER, Royal College of Art, 2023
Premio Arte in Arte e Mestieri, Bertazzoni Foundation, 2023/ 2022/ 2020/ 2019/ 2018
LYNX, published by Franco Rosso Editore, 2017
International Biennial of Art and Culture of Rome, 2015
Materia e Visioni, Micro EXPO Gallery, 2014
Published Book
Cuccurucucu - What motivates a human being to move forward? , Sabino Maria Frassà, Cramum,2019
Why we must be proud of being Italian: thirty-five experts analyze our national identity, Prof. Pierluigi Cascioli, published by Aracne Editrice, 2016
AWARDS
2025 | Critics Mention - Premio Arte in Arte e Mestieri, Bertazzoni Suzzara Foundation, Mantova (IT)
2023 | 2022 | 2020 | Special Mention - Premio Arte in Arte e Mestieri, Bertazzoni Suzzara Foundation, Mantova (IT)
2019 | Finalist of the Cramum Prize 2019, Varedo (IT)
2017 | Finalist International Prize for Contemporary Art LYNX, A.C.I.S., Trieste (IT)
2017 | Selected Premio Arte, Cairo Editore, Milan (IT)
2016 | Medusa Aurea XXXVIII Award, AIAM, International Academy of Modern Art (A.I.A.M.), Rome (IT)
2015 | Finalist Award - Rigenerazioni, Museum of Contemporary Art (MACRO Factory), Rome (IT)