"Lampedusa" displayed in Santa Rita Church

ROME – Irish artist, Michelle Rogers, is displaying her painting Lampedusa in Rome’s Santa Rita Church, in acknowledgement of World Refugee Day.

Lampedusa is an evocation of the 2013 shipwreck tragedy that occurred 50 miles south of the Italian island where it is believed that more than 260 migrant’s lives were claimed by the sea. Stories like this, that report the capsizing of boats hugely overloaded with desperate refugees fleeing a crisis-zone, are becoming all too frequent on the dangerous seas between Africa and the coasts of Europe. Rogers’ painting reflects the “grim reality of immigration in today’s world” and captures the helpless position of asylum-seekers who are pushed out of their homelands by conflict yet are treated with suspicion and hostility in Europe.

The specific tribute to the “courage and humanity” of those who perished at Lampedusa, Rogers’ work recalls Gericault’s masterpiece, Raft of the Medusa, a stark recognition of the fact that despite modern progression, a lack of fundamental humanity means that such tragic episodes still take place.

Given the “immense history of immigrations” both of Italians and the Irish, Michelle Rogers is personally very moved by this topic and is delighted that the Commune di Roma have agreed to host this important project as she believes that “a church is the perfect location to celebrate the dignity of people who find themselves on the outside of accepted society”.

The artist, who was born and raised on the border between Northern and Southern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, has long been associated with the plights of refugees and the topic of migration. In 1993 she was selected by Amnesty International to go to Bosnia, a trip that subsequently inspired a series of paintings about the “darkest side of human nature.” She travelled to Rome in 1998 to study Caravaggio and has lived between Rome and New York since then.

The Lampedusa will be on show in the Sala Santa Rita, via Montanara (piazza Campitelli) from June 21 to 25 and will be available for viewing between 11.00-19.00. Michelle Rogers will give a talk herself June 21 at 19.00, which will be followed by a Panel Discussion June 22 at 19.00. All entry is free.

For more information on the artist: http://www.michellerogers.com and on the event: Website: www.comune.roma.it/cultura or contact Ugo Corvino, Email: ugocorvino@gmail.com Telephone: +39 366 492 0512

DT