Artist’s career comes full circle in Carlton exhibition

A new exhibition in Carlton is celebrating more than two decades of work by Italian-Australian artist Liliana Di Lizio Barbieri, bringing together paintings, photography, installations and sculptural works created across her career.

Recurring Echoes, now showing at CO.AS.IT. in Faraday St, offers what Liliana describes as a “sampler of my career”, with works spanning from 2001 to the present day.

Born in the Abruzzo region of Italy, Liliana migrated to Australia with her family when she was just three years old. While she had long dreamed of becoming an artist, it was only after completing a Master of Arts degree in research as a mature-age student that she began pursuing her practice professionally.

The exhibition reflects the breadth of that journey, exploring cultural memory, migration, ritual, materiality and the act of making.

When selecting works for the exhibition, Liliana said she was drawn to pieces that were “colourful, eye-catching and had a deeper meaning”.

Among the works is a piece dedicated to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, the devastating 6.3-magnitude disaster in Italy’s Abruzzo region that killed nearly 300 people. Another honours silent women throughout history whose voices went unheard.

While much of the exhibition is grounded in memory and reflection, Liliana said she also hoped visitors would experience a sense of joy.

She said she loved the “idea of creating things of beauty” and hoped Recurring Echoes would be a “joyful experience”, while also encouraging people to contemplate the migrant experience.

The exhibition is being hosted by
CO.AS.IT., the Italian Assistance Association, which has supported the Italian-Australian community since 1968. The organisation is strongly committed to the wellbeing and quality of life of the Italian-Australian community, making it a fitting home for an exhibition so deeply connected to memory, identity and cultural inheritance.

Liliana’s work has travelled widely, with exhibitions and projects in Australia, Italy, China, South Korea and New York. But Melbourne remains her home and creative base.

She continues to live and work in the inner city, which she describes as “just brilliant”, and has operated from the same studio for the past 26 years alongside four other women artists.

Her practice is research-based, but she is also an educator, teaching painting, design theory and visual culture.

Recurring Echoes runs until August 15 at CO.AS.IT., 199 Faraday St, Carlton.

The exhibition is open from 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday and 1pm to 5pm on Saturday. Entry is free.

An opening event will be held on June 11 from 6.30pm to 8pm, with guests asked to RSVP in advance. •