Marinella Senatore: We Rise by Lifting Others

An artistic project that speaks of inclusion and resilience, hopes and potential and emerges not as an individual gesture but as a shared experience. We Rise by Lifting Others is the exhibition by Marinella Senatore created for The Home of The Human Safety Net in Venice, in dialogue with A World of Potential, the permanent interactive exhibition on the third floor of the Procuratie in St Mark’s Square, a hub for culture and social inclusion. 

The Human Safety Net is a movement of people helping people, founded by Generali, whose mission is to unlock the potential of those living in vulnerable circumstances so they can improve the lives of their families and communities. The movement works alongside 98 NGOs in 25 countries through two programmes: one accompanying vulnerable families with children aged zero to six, and one fostering the inclusion of refugees through employment and entrepreneurship.

Marinella Senatore is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is defined by a strong collective and participatory dimension, both in methodology and in the content of her works. In her practice, aesthetic research is placed at the service of the transformative power of social engagement.

The exhibition We Rise by Lifting Others emerges from a participatory and transformative process involving families at risk of social exclusion accompanied by The Human Safety Net and some of its NGO partners in Warsaw, Mestre, and Palermo, within the For Families programme, aimed to strengthen positive parenting practices and to provide early learning opportunities, ensuring that children have the best possible start in life.

Conceived first and foremost as a collective experience, We Rise by Lifting Others unfolds through a monumental light installation and a series of tapestries that weave together images and texts born from the workshops with families. Together, they mark a new phase in the artist’s research, expanding her formal vocabulary through the interplay of light, language, and textile. With this project, Marinella Senatore presents a new aesthetic of luminaria, one of the signature elements of her practice, recalling Baroque candelabra and the ephemeral catafalques created for major celebrations in the 17th and 18th centuries to embody collective emotions and shared values. At the same time, it evokes the festive light structures of Southern Italy’s patron-saint celebrations, symbols of community, belonging, and renewal. 

The project also unfolds through six tapestries embroidered in India by the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, internationally recognised for its exceptional craftsmanship and its commitment to preserving and advancing artisanal heritage. Each tapestry becomes a space for storytelling and memory: the landscape—understood as a relational environment—hosts stylised human figures and embroidered phrases that emerged from the workshops, expressing desires, projects, dreams, and reflections on potential. 

The new exhibition naturally enters into dialogue with A World of Potential, the permanent interactive exhibition curated by Orna Cohen. It offers visitors a journey to discover their own potential through 16 multimedia installations that embody the Foundation’s values and connect them to its mission through the stories of the people at its heart.

“This is the first time I have collaborated with an organisation so deeply aligned with my vision, one that is truly committed to improving the quality of life of individuals, their families, and their communities,” explained Marinella Senatore. “Starting from a participatory process with children and parents, I imagined a project that reframes vulnerability not as a lack, but as a shared resource: a work in which the collective dimension becomes a space for recognition, listening, and possibility.”

With We Rise by Lifting Others, The Human Safety Net conveys its mission once again through the narrative and transformative power of art, meant as a universal language capable of engaging communities, fostering awareness, and generating measurable, concrete impact. 

Useful info
Address: The Home of The Human Safety Net, Procuratie, Piazza S. Marco 105, Venice.

Opening hours
10am–7pm from April 1 to  October 31 (last admission at 6:10pm) / 10am–6pm from November 1 to March 31(last admission at 5:10pm). The exhibition is free and open to all.