Cristiana de Marchi

Italian/Lebanese, born 1968

BiographyCristiana de Marchi is an Italian/Lebanese visual artist and writer who lives and works between Beirut and Dubai. She received her MFA with honours in Archaeology at The University of Turin, Italy and previously completed her Bachelors with honours in Humanities from the same university. Cristiana works with video and textiles as her privileged medium to explore issues related to identity, displacement, belonging and the porous borders that separate regions, while allowing contact.

Her solo shows include Wunderkammern Effimere (Circuiti Dinamici, Milano, 2017), Contrappunti/Counterpoints at Villa Amoretti, Turin (2014); My Country, New York University, New York, USA (2014); Weaving Gaps, 1x1 art gallery, Dubai, UAE (2013) and “Melting the Sky”, a double solo with Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri (Dubai, 2016).

Group shows include: First Yinchuan Biennale, MoCa Yinchuan, China (2016); Santa Cruz Biennale, “Limitrofe”, Centro Cultural de Santa Cruz, Bolivia (2016); Second Culture of Peace Biennial, Tehran, Iran (2016); Groupe Mobile: retracer la vie sociale des oeuvres par la photographie, Villa Vassilieff, Paris, France (2016); White Cube… Literally, IVDE gallery, Dubai, UAE (2016); Re-mapping, Digital Marrakesh, Marrakesh, Morocco (2014); EcransMed: Screenings from the Mediterranean, Montreal, Canada (2014); Making Space, Body as Woman, Parallel event of the Singapore Biennial, Singapore (2013); MinD/Body, NYU, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2013); New Positions, AB Gallery, Luzern, Switzerland (2013); SIKKA Art Fair, Dubai, UAE (2013, 2016); We the people, post residency exhibition, University of the Arts¸ Philadelphia, USA (2012); To the Moon, XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2012); Mawtini, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE (2012); 29th EFAS Annual Exhibition, Sharjah, UAE (2011).

Her works have been featured in Art Asia Pacific, Art Forum, Contemporary Practices, Artribune, Canvas, The Arts Newspaper, Harper’s Bazaar Art Arabia, The National, Gulf News, Gulf Today, Islamic Arts Magazine, L’Agenda Culturel among others, besides extensive mentions in the UAE Arabic press. Her writing has appeared in local and international catalogues and magazines devoted to contemporary art. Her first poetry book Embodying has been recently published by Sharjah Art Foundation (2016).

Cristiana has been a resident artist at the Artists’ Village, Yinchuan, China (2016); Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and at the Santa Fe Art Institute, USA (2014) and at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, USA (2012). She will be a resident artist at the Vermont Art Centre during Fall 2017.

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