LETIA – Letizia Cariello

Napoli

LETIA, the artistic name adopted in 2021 by Letizia Cariello, has focused her research on materializing time through a meticulous process that starts from everyday objects, weaving a network of relationships capable of making time perceptible. Her background is rich and multifaceted: she holds a degree in Art History and is a Professor of Artistic Anatomy at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. Music plays an integral role in her artistic language, as sound and rhythm — much like in classical Greek and Roman culture — are deeply connected to space and architectural proportions. For LETIA, these elements can become measurable and even visible, for example, in the floor plan of a home.

Her works have a meditative and existential character, taking shape in various forms such as Calendars, Gates, performances, installations, videos, embroidered photographs, artist books, and Red Threads that run through diverse materials. In her Calendars, dates, months, and days mark the beginning and end of a performance, meticulously hand-carved into marble or stone, or inscribed on fabric adorned with gold or bronze leaf inserts.

Born into a Neapolitan family of sculptors dating back to the 17th century, LETIA began drawing before the age of three under the guidance of her paternal grandfather and never stopped. A Full Professor of Artistic Anatomy at Brera’s School of Sculpture, she was selected by the European Union during Barroso’s Presidency to participate, alongside 14 other European artists, intellectuals, and scientists, in the project “A New Narrative for Europe.” She curated a special project on Architecture and Music at the Milano Design Film Festival and won the BNL-BNP Paribas Photography Award at MIA Art Fair. She was also invited by the ICA Foundation for the Aria Italiana project, sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contributing to the Farnesina Collection in Rome.

Her works are housed in numerous public and private collections, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Farnesina Collection – Experimenta in Rome, the Certosa di San Lorenzo in Padula, Museion / Ar-Ge Kunst in Bolzano, the Rocca di Montestaffoli in San Gimignano, the Artrust Collection in Lugano, the Borromeo Collection in Milan, Hangar 2173/Skyway Monte Biancoin Courmayeur, Bocconi University in Milan, Fondazione Trussardi, and AssabOne, among many others.

She exhibits both in Italy and internationally. Some of her recent exhibitions include Calendario-Nous (2022), curated by Annette Hofmann at Buldingbox in Milan, Fuso Orario (2021), curated by Leonardo Regano at Galleria Studio G7in Bologna, and Il tuo cielo è verde (2021), curated by Olga Gambari at Filatoio Rosso in Caraglio. She has participated in collective exhibitions hosted by major institutions such as La Triennale di Milano, MART in Rovereto, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Video Sound Art Festival in Milan, and St. Moritz Art Masters in St. Moritz. In 2019, she was a speaker at TEDx Busto Arsizio, and in 2020, she was selected for the Level 0 Prize at ArtVerona by M9 – Museum of the 20th Century in Mestre.