Handmade Militancy - Clemen Parrocchetti

Born into a family of the Lombard aristocracy, Clemen Parrocchetti (1923-2016, Milan) trained in painting at the Brera Academy, where she graduated in 1956. Across the 1960s, her painterly style shifted from an existentialist realism to an abstract and surreal language. While partaking in the feminist momentum of the early 1970s, her artistic practice underwent a radical change when she started to use textiles and small household objects in her early assemblages, but above all with the introduction of embroidery. In 1978 she joined the Gruppo Immagine of Varese, with which she participated in the 1978 Venice Biennale. The collective’s collaboration lasted for almost all of the 1980s. Going further in her exploration of textiles and embroidery, the 1980s saw her explore the themes of Classical mythology with a sensitivity towards the metamorphosing body. In her final decade, Parrocchetti focused on the animal world and her relationship to it, formalized in numerous drawings and paintings.

This publication is published on the occasion of the exhibition: Handmade Militancy (28.4-26.8.2023 at ChertLüdde Berlin)

Curated by Sofia Gotti and Caterina Iaquinta

Texts by Sofia Gotti and Caterina Iaquinta

Graphic Design by Mariateresa Lattarulo

Photos by Andrea Rossetti, Marjorie Brunet Plaza, Marco Caselli Nirmal, Antonio Maniscalo and Nicola Gnesi 

Archival Material Courtesy Archivio Clemen Parrocchetti