Take a deep breath
Exhale
Drop your shoulders
Close your eyes
These words, chosen by curator Koyo Kouoh to introduce the 61st Biennale Arte, In Minor Keys, invite us to release ourselves from the known and step into a world of imagination as we enter Fragments of Light, Sandra Cattaneo Adorno’s new exhibition presented within Personal Structures 2026 at Palazzo Bembo. Curated by the artist in collaboration architect Danilo Vespier, and art historian Andrea Verganti, Fragments of Light showcases Cattaneo Adorno’s transformative approach to street photography, enveloping us in a smoothly flowing blend of sight, sound, and motion to explore the inherent fragility and unstable experience of perception.
Organized by the European Cultural Centre Italy for the 8th Edition of Personal Structures: Confluences, the exhibition is designed to meet us where we are, immersing us in a meditative space where are senses are set free from the limits of rational thought. Here, the static nature of the photographic image dissolves and becomes reimagined in fluid, dynamic relationship to the gaze that focuses on the relational aspects of the work.
Fragments of Light opens with a large video projection on a silver metallic panel two by three meters wide that acts as a portal into the main gallery. The projection is a kaleidoscopic montage of 55 images that merge, meld, and recompose, so that we, as Koyo Kouoh wished, may “marvel, meditate, dream, revel, reflect, and commune in realms” free from the demands of everyday life.
The subtle shimmer of silver is a minor key that holds what Koyo Kouoh has described as “the cadences, melodies, and silences of resonant worlds” that are at once mysterious and familiar. Where Cattaneo Adorno’s previous exhibition and book, Ten Years, featured golden metallic ink printed on black pages, in celebration of her discovery of photography at age 60, the silver tonality of Fragments of Light evokes the light of the moon, which shines only by reflection of the sun’s golden beams. The subtle difference in technique struck me as significant – being visually and esthetically aligned with the role silver plays throughout the history of photography.
The main gallery features thirteen monochromatic works printed with silver metallic ink on dark blue paper that connects them with the waters of Venice set against vermillion walls of earthly depth. As we move through the room, the images change in response to our actions, revealing the hidden depths of Cattaneo Adorno’s complexly layered work. The photographs are abstracted but retain a recognizable element of the figurative world, evoking the lush majesty of a dreamscape.
At the center of the gallery, Cattaneo Adorno premiers her first three-dimensional work: a photomosaic installation of 24 prints made from a single image of the Santa Monica pier that disassemble and reassemble in new configurations as we move through the gallery. Embodying the theme of Confluences, the prints are mounted on panels with mirrors on the reverse, so that our very presence is integrated into the experience of the work.
Jazzy notes from É luxo so by João Gilberto, arranged by Stan Getz, float throughout the gallery as delicate fragments brought together in an intricate melody that summons Cattaneo Adorno’s Brazilian roots celebrated in her previous works, Águas de Ouro and Scarti di Tempo. Fragments of Light embraces the bittersweet yearning that Brazilians call saudade, intense feelings of nostalgia and melancholy for a love long gone, bringing to life Koyo Kouoh’s idea of “an exhibition that invites listening to the persistent signals of earth and life, connecting to soul frequencies.”
The exhibition concludes with a set of nine curtain panels, printed with fragments of a photograph suspended across a large window overlooking the Grand Canal, returning viewers to the waters from which they came. The panels overlap and offer variations on the image represented, another way of questioning what we see.
Sandra Cattaneo: Fragments of Light
8th Edition of Personal Structures: Confluences
May 9 – November 22, 2026
Palazzo Bembo, Riva del Carbon, 4793, Venezia
Sandra Cattaneo Adorno (b. 1953, Rio de Janeiro) started photographing in 2013 at the age of 60. Her inventive practice revolves around street photography as a way of questioning reality and representation. When exhibiting her work, she adopts an experimental approach that ranges from the use of innovative inks and materials to the combination of stills and projections, visuals and sound. Cattaneo Adorno has published four monographs with Radius Books: The Other Half of the Sky (2019), Águas de Ouro (2020), Scarti di Tempo (2022) and Ten Years (2024). Her work is the recipient of numerous awards and her photographs have been exhibited widely internationally, as well as featured in several publications. In April of 2024 Cattaneo Adorno launched her solo exhibition, Ten Years, during the 60th Venice Biennale, organized by the European Cultural Centre (ECC). The project is also going to be exhibited at the Florence Biennale 2025. Sandra is represented by Robert Mann Gallery in New York. All inquiries please contact the gallery.
Danilo Vespier (b. 1972, Milan) is an Italian architect with an international background, having studied in Italy, France and Belgium. After graduating in Architecture in 1998, he moved to Paris, where he collaborated with Mario Cucinella, focusing on sustainability and energy efficiency. In 2000, he joined the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Genoa, where he worked for sixteen years and became an Associate. During this time, he contributed to major projects, such as the Liturgical Hall of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, the “Jardim de Braço de Prata” in Lisbon, and the new “Le Albere” district in Trento, including the Science Museum of Trento (MUSE). With a strong focus on the social and environmental value of architecture, he has been involved in complex urban interventions and international projects, including the Soho Tower in New York, the concept for the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and residential towers in Sydney. In
2017, he founded Vespier Architects in Genoa, aiming to explore new forms of expression grounded in solid experience. Alongside his professional work, he is committed to education and knowledge sharing, having given numerous lectures in Italy and abroad. Since 2018, he has been an Adjunct Professor at Clemson University’s School of Architecture.
Andrea Verganti (b. 1981, Milan) is an art historian, editor and educator whose career has spanned different media over many countries. Guided by an interest in human stories and curious about other cultures, he completed an MA in Photojournalism at Westminster University in 2009. He subsequently worked with grassroots organisations on projects in the Middle East and Africa, both taking photographs himself as well as working on the visual materials produced by other people. Wanting to deepen his understanding of visual communication and art history, he decided to study at The Courtauld Institute of Art, where he obtained the Graduate Diploma in 2022 (Distinction) and the MA in History of Art in 2023 (Distinction). He has since given classes and lectures on photography and art history. In the summer of 2025, he was the recipient of a scholarship by the Japanese government to conduct art historical research on intercultural exchanges between Europe and Japan at the University of Kyushu. Verganti has been collaborating closely with photographer Sandra Cattaneo Adorno since 2014.
Wobneb Magazine 