Nari Ward: Gilded Darkness

The Fondazione Nicola Trussardi presents a new project created especially for the city of Milan: “Gilded Darkness” by American artist Nari Ward.

The exhibition of Jamaican-born artist Nari Ward, who has been engaged for years in a research rooted in the urgencies of the present time, is hosted at the Centro Balneare Romano, in the Città Studi area. The artist proposes new works, created for the occasion, alongside famous sculptures, installations and environmental interventions.

One of his best-known works, ‘Amazing Grace’, produced during his 1993 residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem, opened the project for the Roman Baths Centre. For this large installation, Ward collected more than 300 abandoned prams and arranged them in the form of a ship hull. The installation is accompanied by the voice of African-American gospel singer and activist Mahalia Jackson, who sings the poignant gospel song Amazing Grace.

At the centre of Nari Ward’s exhibition are a number of new productions commissioned by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, including Emergence Pool, a site-specific intervention on the swimming pool-centerpiece of the Centro Balneare, with its rectangular 4,000-square-metre pool, which is covered with 2,000 golden blankets.

Not far away, a huge white flag hoisted on a crane evokes images of nationalism, violence and defeat, while sounds and musical compositions made in collaboration with various groups and individuals who live and work in Milan are broadcasting from the loudspeakers of Battleground Beacon.