medina zabo (arezzo, 1979) is an italian multifaceted artist based between etruria and london.
former journalist and video reporter (member of the national corporation ordine dei giornalisti) interested mostly in enviromental and social issues, quits in 2012 and decides on pursuing exclusively her art career path. after an early period of self-education, she begins to exhibit in institutional art venues in 2016 just enrolled at the fine arts academy.
2005_ MA in corporate communication at università degli studi di perugia, degree dissertation in semiotics
2010_ web communication and new media qualification at ied_european institute of design (rome campus)
2015-2019 fine arts BA studies, alumna of accademia di belle arti pietro vannucci perugia (awarded with the chen ming merit scholarship ay 2015-16); alumna of accademia di belle arti di roma
moved to london in january 2020, at the present commutes between the capital city of england and perugia.
her practice is focused on the breakdown of pre-structured settings and the search for metamorphosis in nature as a metaphor of human social patterns, all managed in terms of (misleading) semiotic relations.
in 2013 a six months coexistence with a colony of swarming bees in the then dining room of her house leads medina to the study of similarities between men’s and honeybees’ social learning; and hence to explore mechanisms of colonization in different realms, transcoding scientific essays in a multifaceted art practice. it follows an ever growing interest in calcified beeswax that is parasitized by galleria mellonella moths: a special kind of bone tissue-like matter got from dismantled beehives, since it’s considered unproductive for human activity, due to parasite infestation. thus the great wax moths ciclically may colonize the cells on artworks, building a new scenario.
all the works set up a dialogue between the processes of nature and man-made features, mostly focused on stainless steel and ral colour system, as well as iconographies and further materials employed relate to (tamed/urban) habitat, within a kind of tradeoff in relation to one another.
parasited beeswax is processed in the manner of renaissance and fresco painting techniques as employed by perugino and piero della francesca, otherwise waterproofed and stabilized as if sculptures are made by manmade building material. in both cases after being shaped by bees and larvae in different stages (they can in fact co-habitate if bees’ family stays well).
medina achieves first skills and expertices in metal working at beverly pepper’s studio in todi during two art residencies sponsored by the fondazione progetti beverly pepper. coming in touch with the american artist, she grows close to the postminimalism.
_living with bees: take a look
award winning international o.r.a prize 2018 for artistic research selected by curva pura+roots
finalist at 13th international art prize laguna, land art section
phantasmagoria award winning curators’selection, artrepreneur_arts org. new york
emerging artists testimonial at IAF international author forum 2018
permanent installation, procura della repubblica, palazzo martorelli orsini, spoleto, perugia, 2017, curated by accademia di belle arti di perugia
workshop lemniscate – the art of infinity curated by petia knebel– from augsburg university, sponsored by fine arts academy pietro vannucci, perugia, april 2016
art residency at beverly pepper’s studio for restoring the maquette ascension (within opera pr1ma off _beverly pepper), sponsored by beverly pepper foundation and aba perugia, todi, january 2017
art residency at beverly pepper’s studio, preparing the exhibition “beverly pepper tra todi e il mondo” curated by massimo mattioli sponsored by beverly pepper foundation, todi, november 2018
hdemia de rooms, delollis underground collective, rome, october 2018
creative writing&drawing teacher at jobel group, rome, autumn 2018
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