The exhibition "Beacon 2022. William Villalongo" at the Villa Romana in Florence goes on stage from 11 February to 11 March. The work of artist William Villalongo expands the imagery of historical continuums and confuses the perceptions and assumptions inherent in visibility and the Black past. Beacon 2022 was born as an installation that binds, but at the same time escapes, to the physical properties of reflected light and gravity. The work brings together a series of references that overlap the Black Mediterranean and the Black Atlantic as geographies and bridges of the diaspora. The title of the work refers to the alignment of the stars used to establish a navigation route that allowed to escape from slavery in the southern United States and to the metaphorical paths of imagination and self-care. A series of vases, shells and various kinds of objects hang on thick gold chains.

These are charms, talismans, protective gestures and annotations. The ever-expanding mythological dimension of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea as containers of trauma, symbols of forced migration and places of death is subverted by the complex nature of the variety of objects found, which, covered with velvet, acquire warmth, softness and depth. The visual composition of the work expands and informs the sound elements that are the fruit of the collaboration between Villalongo and the composer Igor Santos. The soundscape integrated in the work stems from the interest of both artists for movement and the metaphor of water. The exhibition is part of the 2022 edition of Black History Outside the Walls *.