Department of English

• Thursday, February 1, 2024 - 5:15pm to 7:00pm

Faculty Lounge, 135 Fisher-Bennett Hall

Arielle Saiber

Johns Hopkins University

The Della Valle Lecture in Dante Studies for 2024

‘Che va di notte che porta il lume indietro’: Three Contemporary Artists Illuminating Dantean Paths Through Difficult Times 

  “Che va di notte che porta il lume indietro: Three Contemporary Artists Illuminating Dantean Paths Through Difficult Times: Maru Ceballos (Buenos Aires), Kat Mustatea (NYC), Kazumasa Chiba (Tokyo).”

Innumerable are the works of art inspired by the  Commedia that hybridize Dante’s journey with the artist’s own.  Dante’s Pilgrim has never, in fact, been everyone’s “everyman.”  And rightly so.  This presentation introduces three contemporary artists—Maru Ceballos (Buenos Aires), Kat Mustatea (NYC), and Kazumasa Chiba (Tokyo)—who engage Dante’s itinerary in striking and radically different ways.  Each will share their work through a brief video made for this event.  Their imagery is not easy to view.  Their explorations of environmental disaster, societal degradation, pain, and a global pandemic are disturbing, yet important viewing for Italianists working today, as we continue to point to the transformative gifts literature offers the world.  May we all be as courageous to move through difficult times as Dante and these artists have.

Some graphic images might not be appropriate for younger viewers.