An Interview with Paula Valero: Resistant Herbarium Rosa Luxemburg (Mothers) at Vino Vero Venice
Curated by Mara Sartore, the Vetrina project transforms the display window of Vino Vero into a dynamic space for contemporary art, inviting female artists to explore themes of activism and care. For the twelfth iteration of the series, Paula Valero presents Resistant Herbarium Rosa Luxemburg: Mothers, a site-specific installation celebrating women who embody diverse forms of motherhood—biological, political, and creative.
In this conversation, Paula reflects on her artistic practice, the enduring legacy of Rosa Luxemburg, her choice to focus on motherhood for Vetrina, and the unique challenges and opportunities of creating art in Venice’s historic and cultural context.
Paula Valero
Mara Sartore – Paula, your career spans various disciplines, including fine arts, set design, and activism, culminating in a Ph.D. focused on activism and performance. Could you share with us the key moments or influences that have shaped your artistic journey and the evolution of your practice?
Paula Valero – I have a diverse background: both academic and non-academic, as seen in the school of activist and social movements, where I have learned organizational and activation methods that have allowed me to develop my own actions. In these, I create a connection between staging and live arts with activism. On the other hand, I have always developed a plastic arts practice at the same level—installations, drawings, and imagery—that feeds back into this other process with projects involving communities, participation, and self-representation, among other things. Currently, I am working on various projects, such as “Resistant Herbarium Rosa Luxemburg”, which require a process and a device to unfold with their own methodology, starting from experimental ethnographies.
MS – Your project “Resistant Herbarium Rosa Luxemburg” continues the legacy of Rosa Luxemburg’s profound connection with nature and her political mission. How did your involvement in the exhibition “Solidarity is not a Metaphor” at the Venice Meeting Point 2024, curated by Nataša Petrešin, influence your ongoing work with the herbarium.
PV – The intervention in this exhibition was very interesting for me to rethink what radical solidarity means. For this herbarium, I introduced women from different territories currently in conflict. The herbarium, as a shared territory, brings together a genealogy of care that women have been developing throughout history, in opposition to the violence unleashed across the world. In this herbarium, women of Jewish origin, like Rosa Luxemburg, Hannah Arendt, and Matilde Jacob (a friend of Rosa Luxemburg, thanks to whom we know about Rosa’s herbarium), coexist alongside Palestinian women who have dedicated their work to care, life, and memory. In this project, the herbarium was proposed as a shared territory that highlights the most critical task of our time: the pedagogy of care that women have offered the world—caring for life.
MS – Your work often highlights the contributions of women in history, activism, and care. For Vetrina at Vino Vero, you’ve dedicated this chapter of your herbarium to mothers, including an image of your own mother. Can you tell us more about your decision to focus on the theme of motherhood and its many interpretations for this installation.
PV – In the herbarium project, as a device, I propose different thematic or local “neighborhoods” for the context in which they are created. In this case, I thought it was interesting to start with motherhood in its political extension and its different forms. This could include Mara Sartore herself, who, by developing this Vetrina space, proposes an artistic imaginary as a possibility within the context of the city.
MS – Working with the unique, intimate space of the Vetrina at Vino Vero presents its own set of challenges and opportunities. How has this setting shaped your approach to this installation? What has your experience been like engaging with Venice as a cultural and historical backdrop for your work.
PV – Drawing from the common context in Italy—also seen in cities like Naples or Sicily—I started with the altars to the Madonna (Virgin Mary) scattered throughout the city. That’s why I conceived of “Vetrina” as an altar where I propose these political maternities.
MS – Activism and care are central themes in your work. In today’s world, marked by social and political crises, what role do you believe art—and projects like Vetrina—can play in fostering reflection, dialogue, and solidarity?
PV – My idea was to create an installation framed within a context where culture is so relevant in a historic city like Venice, where every corner holds some form of surprise, interest, or even beauty. It is so difficult for us to talk about beauty and defend it. I am now more interested than ever, in the midst of destruction, in emphasizing the need and right to beauty. A city like this, which has the sea within it, always reveals beauty.
MS – Looking ahead, what are the upcoming projects or ideas you’re most excited to explore? How do you see your practice evolving in the years to come?
PV – I am very excited about all the opportunities arising in my work on an international level. As for the herbarium project itself, it has a life of its own—it grows like weeds everywhere, reproducing itself. It is invited to develop different thematic herbariums in various cities for 2025 and 2026.
