Francesca Genna (1967) is an artist, researcher, and educator based in Sicily, Italy, where she is a Professor of Experimental Printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo. She began her printmaking journey in Florence, developing a focus on etching and the clarity of natural forms. Genna’s recent work centres on non-toxic printmaking and ecological sustainability, as demonstrated in her publications on innovative materials and methods. She has collaborated with prestigious institutions across Europe and the Americas, leading workshops that merge printmaking with social discourse. Her visual work has been exhibited widely, including solo shows in Barcelona, Ljubljana, and Rome, and is included in significant collections such as Museo Nacional Centro Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Recognized with the European Award for Lifelong Passions, she has also participated in artist residencies, including the Assilah Forum Foundation in Morocco.
The early 19th-century travel writer, Maria Graham, stands at the centre of the Lands, Real and Imagined: Women Artists Respond to the Art & Travel Writings of Maria Graham (1785–1842) exhibition, along with her four published travel journals of India, Italy, Brazil, and Chile, and her comprehensive history of Spain. The written and visual documents Graham produced in response to her travels, including her detailed and often farsighted observations about the lands and peoples she encountered, continue to be important foci for scholarly research that dwells at the intersection of gender, travel writing, and culture.
The five accomplished women artists who were invited into this exhibition project—Kavita Shah, India; Francesca Genna, Italy; Leila Danzinger, Brazil; Isabel Cauas, Chile; and Paula Bonet, Spain—collectively respond to Graham’s distinct “gaze” on their own countries, while also providing their individual perspectives on her writings, her visual art, and her extraordinary range of disciplinary interests. The breadth and sensitivity of their responses also illuminate the complex trajectory of Graham’s personal as well as professional growth, as she lived and learned from her travels. The exhibition made its debut at the Fisher Gallery at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio from February 1–July 15, 2022 and is the result of a three-year creative collaboration supported by the scholarly research and curatorial expertise of Drs. Patricia Frick (Professor of English) and Janice Glowski (Art Historian and Director of The Frank Museum of Art and Galleries) at Otterbein.
