We Rise by Lifting Others by Marinella Senatore at The Home of The Human Safety Net in Venice
18 March 2026 - 12:08
- A new social impact art project born from the collaboration between The Human Safety Net and multidisciplinary artist Marinella Senatore
- The exhibition takes shape from the workshops led by the artist with families supported by the Foundation and its NGO partners in Warsaw, Mestre, and Palermo
From 7 May 2026 to 22 March 2027
The Home of The Human Safety Net | Piazza San Marco 105, Venice
Venice - An artistic project that speaks of inclusion and resilience, of hopes and potential — one that emerges not as an individual gesture but as a shared experience. We Rise by Lifting Others is the title of 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 exhibition will open to the public on 7 May 2026 — and run until 22 March 2027 — coinciding with the preview of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
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 supporting vulnerable families with children aged 0–6, 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 supported by The Human Safety Net and several of its NGO partners in Warsaw, Mestre, and Palermo.
The For Families programme is active in 23 countries alongside 65 NGO partners, with a dual objective: 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.
The new exhibition naturally enters into dialogue with A World of Potential, the permanent interactive exhibition curated by Orna Cohen and designed by Studio Migliore+Servetto. It offers visitors to the Home of The Human Safety Net 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.
“Art is a universal language that allows us to address complex themes such as inclusion, vulnerability, and the development of potential, and to engage in dialogue with the community. We are delighted to work with Marinella Senatore, who has placed at the centre some of the families attending our centres, listening to and giving voice to parents and children at a crucial moment in their lives.” said Emma Ursich, CEO of The Human Safety Net.
“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.”
Creation as a participatory and transformative process: the workshops
We Rise by Lifting Others was born with an explicitly collective vocation, challenging the traditional notion of authorship and opening up to a dimension of co‑creation: Marinella Senatore develops her artistic practice within a relational space in which the work takes shape through the direct contribution of the families involved.
Launched in Warsaw in December 2025 with Ta Szansa (“This Opportunity”), an NGO promoting positive parenting pathways for families with children aged 0–6, the process continued in January in Mestre with the Casa Famiglia San Pio X, which supports mothers and children in vulnerable situations, and concluded in Palermo with the Centro per la Salute delle Bambine e dei Bambini, an organisation committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all children from birth.
Through moments of writing, storytelling, and movement, the artist created spaces for sharing in which participants could freely imagine new forms of connection. The workshops offered parents a deeply transformative experience, grounded in inclusion and mutual listening, and from them Marinella Senatore developed the creative foundation of the exhibition.
Throughout the sessions, the artist activated the creative potential of participants through a process in which art becomes a relational tool capable of fostering self‑awareness and bringing forth individual and collective resources. The workshops created a space for listening and exchange, enabling parents to reflect on their own experiences and imagine new ways of relating to their children.
The words, thoughts, and narratives that emerged during the workshops became the creative basis of the project, shaping the texts and images that compose the works presented in the exhibition.
The exhibition at the Home of The Human Safety Net
The various installations that make up the exhibition take shape from the insights that emerged during the workshops, and are presented within the Art Studio — the space at the Home of The Human Safety Net dedicated to temporary exhibitions that explore themes connected to The Human Safety Net’s programmes, as well as the values and strengths expressed in the permanent exhibition A World of Potential.
Luminaria: a new aesthetic
With this project, Marinella Senatore presents for the first time a new aesthetic of luminaria, one of the signature elements of her practice.
Its form recalls Baroque candelabra and the ephemeral catafalques created for major celebrations in the 17th and 18th centuries — temporary architectures designed 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.
Standing approximately four metres tall, the monumental light sculpture is conceived as a collective work, in which the artist’s gesture intertwines with the words, phrases, and reflections that emerged during the workshops. Light becomes a relational material — a woven structure that holds voices and lived experiences, giving shape to a monument to personal and collective dignity.
The tapestries
The project also unfolds through a series of six tapestries in dialogue with the luminaria.
Like ancient banners, 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. In continuity with the luminaria, the textiles also convey a collective narrative in which the “I” opens up to the “we”, and vulnerability is transformed into a shared possibility.
The tapestries were 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. The artist chose the school for a deep alignment of values: the institution has transformed embroidery — traditionally a male domain in India — into a tool for women’s empowerment, promoting a more equitable and inclusive vision of society through professional training.
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.
The Home of The Human Safety Net is open every day except Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (winter hours) and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (summer hours). Admission is free.