Rapturous Alchemy: The Corallium Series in Venice 2024

The European Cultural Centre has invited Virginia to exhibit “Rapturous Alchemy” at Palazzo Bembo during the 2024 Venice Biennale. The Venice Biennale is one of the great events in the art world which takes place every two years. Art lovers, curators and gallerists from all over the world attend the event.

The installation presents several of the new large scale Corallium works backlit on lightboxes in a dark room, which creates the ambience of one being immersed in the sea. One of the ambitions of the project is to educate the public about the devastating effects of climate change on coral reefs. Last summer a severe heat wave swept the Southern United States and causing the ocean temperatures to rise off the coast of Florida. The high-water temperatures immediately started a bleaching process killing the algae that creates food for the reefs leading to reefs dying – this is occurring globally. Other factors devastating coral reefs are overfishing, marine pollution and the salinity of toxic rainfall (due to carbon emissions.) Healthy coral reefs are the fundamental building blocks of our marine eco-systems.