Fondazione Modena Arti Visive presents Where / Dove, the first solo exhibition by Northern Irish artist Willie Doherty (Derry, 1959) in an Italian institution, which will be held in the Palazzina dei Giardini exhibition venue from 7 November 2020 to 31 January 2021.

The exhibition, curated by Daniele De Luigi and Anne Stewart , is co-produced by FMAV and the Ulster Museum in Belfast, where it will be hosted from 5 March to 6 June 2021.

Made with the support of the British Council as part of the UK / Italy 2020 Cultural Season with the theme "Being Present", it offers an overview of Doherty's career through photographic and video works focused on the theme of borders, from the works of the 1990s up to a new video installation commissioned for the occasion.

Willie Doherty is an artist known internationally for his photographic and video installation work, which originated in his personal experience of the Northern Irish conflict in his hometown of Derry. Located at the western end of Europe, on the border between the UK and Ireland, Derry is a place where historical and political complexity has shaped the physical and psychological experience of the landscape.

Doherty tackles, in a particularly keen and cutting way, issues inherent to the legacy of colonialism and conflict and the real as well as perceived dividing lines that divide individuals and communities. His use of the landscape to evoke a sense of instability and uncertainty, through a complex layering of references, is one of the most disruptive aspects of his practice. Doherty uses this artistic genre to explore the persistence of individual and collective traumas and the repercussions on the present. More recently, the artist has extended his gaze to other disputed geographic areas, such as the border between the United States and Mexico, where the systematically conducted raising of a wall creates an illusion of control, exploiting and reinforcing a false sensation. of strength and safety.