Through gestures, materials and forms that evoke cycles, transformation and memory, the works on view at Paradiso Verde contemplate the evolving relationship between humanity and the environment. Set within the neoclassical context of MO.CA in Brescia, where natural forms are idealised in frescos, the exhibition introduces a poetic counterpoint, bringing to light the complexities of today’s ecological realities. Rather than altering the space, the installations respond to it subtly, engaging with its symbolic and chromatic traces. Risi interlaces botanical elements, amazonian landscapes and references to migration, weaving a dialogue between cultural identity and the landscape. Richard, meanwhile, explores the tension between mechanical reproduction and accidental variation, questioning the ways in which nature is observed, interpreted and represented. Together, their practices converge into a visual narrative that reimagines the landscape not as a static backdrop, but as a living, shared presence that is active, sentient and capable of critically reflecting the urgencies of our time.

- Francesca Fantoni and Pietro Cattai

Pietro Cattai: Your work is currently exhibited within the historically and architecturally charged context of a Neoclassical palace. How does this setting influence your relationship with

nature as expressed through your

practice and how do you engage with the palace's classical ideals, spatial limits and

symbolic meaning?

Paul-Auguste Richard: The Neoclassical palace of MO.CA is far from neutral, it carries many traces of past presences and the frescos embody numerous ideas shaped by the Western gaze on nature.

Even though these perspectives have evolved, we still inhabit environments

marked by Cartesian philosophy. Italian and

French gardens are perfect examples - where bushes, trees and lakes are geometrically arranged, turning nature into design. I am captivated by this abstraction of nature and the moment it becomes

something reproducible.

Alessandra Risi: My paintings depict

Amazonian fires and droughts that are affecting olive groves in Italy and so they

enter into tension with the arranged and

idealised depiction of nature of the classical decoration. The walls became a canvas, but certainly not a blank one - in fact, we have been intervening carefully within their colours and forms. Each tone of paint falls on my canvas like rain dampening the fires,

creating a rhythm that guides the viewer through both my paintings and the space.

Francesca Fantoni: Alessandra, nature in your practice often carries symbolic meaning linked to memory, cultural identity and a connection to the land. How do you situate these elements in the context of Italy, particularly here at the MO.CA in Brescia?

Alessandra: As a child, I got lost in books like Regno Verde, gifts my family brought from Italy to Peru. I didn't understand the words, but the images spoke to me. Thats how my relationship with Italy began. Now, using elements like stamps, fruits and botanical archives, I connect collective colonial histories and migration with my own identity. In the third room, I present a series of light boxes highlighting this connection and use fruit as a symbol of exchange and nourishment, whilst the accompanying painting serves as a reminder of the damage caused by neocolonial harvesting methods. I want visitors to reflect on the real destruction that takes place not just in distant lands, but also here, locally.

Francesca: Paul-Auguste, your work takes a very different yet complementary

approach by focusing on grids, machines and formal constraints. Could you explain

your process and how you work with these tools to reframe how nature is consumed through acts of looking?

Paul-Auguste: I work with printers that are fairly rudimentary and I interact with them in unconventional ways - embracing line

breaks, colour shifts and size distortions as variables of the making. I explore variability in the layout and in the rhythm that emerges from one image to the next. The machine shares as much responsibility as the object being photographed, helping me maintain a curious distance from each stage of making. I invite the viewer to challenge traditional ideas of beauty -moving beyond idealised forms to include imperfection and change.

Pietro: This installation brings your practices into close dialogue, both visually and conceptually. How has your collaboration shaped the way you approached the space and the narrative that unfolds within it?

Paul-Auguste: To build a new garden-a hypothesis-we needed the imprint of another and the frescoes provided a way for us to position our work in relation to each other. The triangular dialogue we have developed encourages us to embrace multiple, poetic discourses that open alternative ways to experience images of nature.

Alessandra: Exactly, the space becomes a means through which to dialogue with each other. In the second room, for example, we beckon down the half-circle to create intimate and personal responses that only fully resonate in relation to one another. I reflect on the cyclical journey of my ancestors between Europe and Latin America, while the saturation of Paul-Auguste's sun beams through anD Soaks into that world.

-Francesca Fantoni and Pietro Cattai