AN EXHIBITION ABOUT MEMORY AND NATURE IN SWITZERLAND

The exhibition The Herbarium of Memory, curated by independent curator Valentina Locatelli, brings together at Espace Muraille the works of three artists: Laura De Bernardi (Switzerland, 1970), Gergana Mantscheva (Bulgaria, 1975), and Laura Sánchez Filomeno (Peru, 1975). Through a carefully curated selection of paintings, drawings, embroideries, objects, and installations, the artists build an intimate dialogue between nature, memory, and artistic creation. Each one, with her own sensibility and visual language, appropriates the concept of the herbarium not only as a botanical archive but also as a living metaphor for identity and remembrance.

Real seeds, dried plant specimens, embroidered rhizomes, and painted flora compose a visual atlas in which the organic coexists with the symbolic. Spread across the two levels of the 18th-century building that houses the gallery, the works invite an introspective journey in which the space is symbolically transformed into an open archive—a resonance chamber for personal and collective memory.

Beyond their stylistic differences, the three artists share a deeply introspective gaze. Their works pose questions about the body, belonging, time, and fragility, integrating autobiographical references, gender perspectives, and connections to various territories. The result is a set of works that, without losing their individuality, is enriched by their proximity to one another.

From oil painting to ephemeral installations with pollen, seeds, or textiles, the techniques employed by De Bernardi, Mantscheva, and Sánchez Filomeno expand the traditional boundaries of botanical art, situating it within a contemporary, poetic, and political framework. Far from simply representing nature, their works activate it as symbol, material, and language.

The Herbarium of Memory offers a sensory and reflective experience that challenges conventional exhibition formats and highlights fragility as a form of resistance. It is an invitation to observe the minimal, to listen to the quiet, to care for what—like plants—needs time, attention, and silence in order to bloom.

Valentina Locatelli is an independent curator based in Bern, Switzerland, and the president of art+château, a non-profit organization that stages contemporary art exhibitions in historic sites. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked independently and at institutions such as the Fondation Beyeler, Kunstmuseum Bern, and MASI Lugano. In 2019, she curated the presentation of modern and contemporary Latin American art at Art Paris. She holds a PhD in Theory and Text Analysis from the University of Bergamo, as well as master’s degrees in Foreign Languages and Literatures and in Museology. Locatelli has authored and edited several art publications and exhibition catalogues.

The exhibition will be on view from May 9 to July 12, 2025, at Espace Muraille, located at Pl. des Casemates 5, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland.