Virginia Ryan
EVEN, SOMETIMES

Curated by Matteo Pacini

17 October – 18 December 2026
Spazio HASITA – Via Venini 58,Milano
Blood and tears: overturning vulnerability
The body as matter, a place of memory and a terrain for confronting taboos. It is from this perspective that “Even, Sometimes” emerges, Virginia Ryan’s exhibition hosted at Spazio HASITA in Milan, curated by Matteo Pacini. The exhibition brings together two of the artist’s recent projects, ‘Even Goddesses Bleed Sometimes’ and ‘Even Men Cry Sometimes’, linked by a shared reflection on vulnerability and the various forms of social control exerted over the female and male body. ‘The body becomes raw material. No longer a subject or an image to be represented, but a substance to be traversed, stitched together, translated, ’ writes Matteo Pacini. ‘Even, Sometimes now finds the perfect opportunity to bring together two of her most recent works: Even Goddesses Bleed Sometimes and Even Men Cry Sometimes, projects that are more like siblings than mere complements, as they are linked by a single question concerning taboos and vulnerability, and what male and female bodies have historically been permitted – or denied – to reveal. ’
Two mirror-image projects address two physiological and emotional experiences – menstrual blood and crying – transforming them into tools for investigating culture, collective behaviour and social norms. Ryan thus overturns the traditional association between vulnerability and weakness and restores an anthropological and social dimension to the body. Born in Victoria, Australia, and with a long international career spanning Europe, Africa, the Middle East, USA and Brazil, Virginia Ryan has developed a body of work rooted in memory, the persistence of myths, the transformation of materials and engagement with different cultures. Her practice encompasses photography, painting, drawing, collage, installation and textiles, reclaiming images and objects to imbue them with new meanings. Her artistic journey has found a unique site in Umbria, in Trevi, a home-studio that combines an exhibition space, archive and work space. This environment reflects the ‘plural biography’ previously identified by the anthropologist Ivan Bargna, which characterises a body of work developed through encounters with different places, communities and imaginaries. Even Goddesses Bleed Sometimes began during a trip to India in 2024,reading the anthropological study The Goddess Who Has Periods in Rituals and Temples of Kerala by K. R. Vaidyanathan (1982) and unfolds through a variety of artistic languages, comprising numerous paintings and drawings created in both Italy and India, as well as embroidered works exploring the theme. Collaborative embroidery works first featured in Ryan’s practice in Umbria, intertwining artistic research and traditional craftsmanship. This was followed during diverse artist’s residencies at Tasara, near Beypore in Kerala, where further collaboration with groups of industrial embroiderers in Calicut ensued. This particular research ties in with an important earlier chapter in the artist’s career: in 2013,Ryan first took part in the collective project Il sangue delle donne. Tracce di rosso sul panno bianco (Women’s Blood. Traces of Red on White Cloth), conceived by Manuela De Leonardis, involving international artists working on old linen cloths once used to absorb menstrual flow. The second project, dedicated to men, stems from the observation of a particularly powerful image: the tears of Christ in Benedetto Bonfigli’s painting Christ, King of Kings, painted in 1495 – the starting point for Even Men Cry Sometimes, exploring the theme of male crying and emotional vulnerability through a collection of personal testimonies. Ryan first invited men close to her – both friends and strangers – from various parts of the world to send postcards recounting the last time they had cried. The testimonies collected thus become part of the artist’s work, transforming a private experience into a collective narrative. The project is conceived as a work in progress, destined to grow over time through new participants and new testimonies, challenging cultural norms surrounding masculinity and the need to control or hide emotional vulnerability. The open and participatory nature of Even Men Cry Sometimes finds a natural counterpart in the philosophy of Spazio HASITA, an organisation established in 2023 in the NoLo district of Milan and founded by Haluk Terzioglu, Founder of Spazio HASITA. Over these first three years, the space has forged a path open to different artists, cultures, generations and artistic languages, fostering a dialogue between art, design and experimentation, and making engagement and interaction with the public and the local neighbourhood central elements of its identity. The decision to collaborate with Matteo Pacini and Virginia Ryan stems from this same vision and reflects Spazio HASITA’s long-term outlook. The exhibition thus becomes the project through which the space chooses to mark its third anniversary: a milestone that also signals a new beginning, guided by the principle Everything begins with people. The history of Spazio HASITA began with the restoration of a historic former shop on Via Venini, which had been closed for over ten years; now, it is above all through the programme of events and the relationships forged from 2023 to the present day that the space has defined its purpose: a place of openness and dialogue, capable of bringing together diverse experiences and perspectives. This openness towards the neighbourhood also takes the form of a concrete gesture: for every exhibition, the Turkish patisserie and delicatessen opposite HASITA creates a specially dedicated dessert. For Even, Sometimes, this tradition accompanies the exhibition, creating a further point of connection between art, the community and the local area. Blood and tears thus become two extremes of the same discourse: the body as a space in which cultural conventions can be challenged. The acts of stitcking hand-writing and collecting testimonies forge a connection which brings to the fore a vulnerability that is not synonymous with fragility, but represents awareness, connection and dialogue. With “Even, Sometimes”, Virginia Ryan brings to Milan a body of work that weaves together personal experience, anthropology, memory and material culture. Two seemingly disparate projects become parts of a single narrative: that of a body that transcends its own taboos and transforms what has for centuries been hidden, censored or silenced into a subject for discussion and sharing. Virginia Ryan – Biography
Virginia Ryan (Echuca, Australia, 1956) is a visual artist and art therapist, born in Australia and an Italian citizen since 1982.For over forty years, her life and artistic practice have unfolded between Italy and an international landscape encompassing Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Brazil and India. Italy, where she now lives and works, is one of the permanent points of reference in this transnational journey. Geographical displacement, personal experience and encounters with different cultural contexts are central elements of her artistic research. After studying Visual Communication at the Australian National University in Canberra, where she also trained in photography, she left Australia in 1981 for Alexandria in Egypt. This was followed by extended periods living and working in Italy, Curitiba, Belgrade and Edinburgh, where she completed her postgraduate training in art therapy. Before moving to West Africa, these diverse
contexts helped shape a practice in which artistic research and intercultural experience are closely intertwined. From 2001,she lived for several years in Accra, Ghana, and subsequently in Abidjan and Grand-Bassam, in the Ivory Coast. Her African experience became one of the fundamental pillars of her work, as a space for connection, memory, belonging and transformation. In 2004,she co-founded the Foundation for Contemporary Art – Ghana in Accra. At the same time, she developed long-term artistic projects through painting, photography, installation, textiles, archiving and participatory practices. These include The Castaways Project, Exposures: A White Woman in West Africa, Vous êtes ici, Biografia Plurale and Filoxenìa. In 2016,she developed MakeArtNotWalls/Italia, an art therapy and participatory art project launched in Trevi with refugees and asylum seekers from West Africa. The project has led to exhibitions and presentations of the group’s work in Italy, Edinburgh, Los Angeles and Paris. Solo exhibitions at international institutions and venues, include Landing in Accra at the National Museum, Accra; Shorelines at Palazzo Trinci Museum, Foligno; The Castaways Project (with Steven Feld) at The Whitworth Gallery Manchester; Multiple Entries – Africa and Beyond at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto, as part of the Festival dei Due Mondi; Fluid Tales at the Fondazione Pino Pascali, Museum of Contemporary Art, Polignano a Mare; Espace à Louer at the Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan; and, in 2026,Spazi Condivisi at CasermArcheologica, Sansepolcro. Her work has been presented and supported by Achille Bonito Oliva, Yacouba Konaté, Giusy Caroppo and Italo Tomassoni alongside numerous other critics, curators and scholars. Group shows include INTRAMOENIA/EXTRA ART – Castelli del Salento with In Transitu, as part of a project under the scientific direction of Achille Bonito Oliva and the general curatorship of Giusy Caroppo, subsequently presented in Venice as part of Pino Pascali. Ritorno a Venezia / Puglia Arte Contemporanea, a collateral event of the 54th International Biennale. Ryan has participated in many travelling exhibitions and international events, including Dak’Art, the Dakar and Malindi Biennales, the Moleskin Foundation Collection and exhibitions dedicated to fibre art. In 2019,she took part in the 14th Bienal Internacional de Curitiba, curated by Massimo Scaringella, at the Museu Oscar Niemeyer. In 2026,she returned to Curitiba for the 16th Bienal Internacional de Curitiba – LIMIARES, with the project Relações Nômades da Visão, presented at the MuMA – Museu Municipal de Arte. Her most recent exhibitions also include ATTRA-VERSO – We Are Multitudes at Villa Sforzesca, Castell’Azzara, in 2026.Ryan is an Academician Emerita of the ‘Pietro Vannucci’ Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, living and working in Umbria whilst maintaining a strongly international practice. Since 2024,she has been working periodically at Tasara in Beypore, Kerala, where her research has expanded to include textiles and a dialogue with the craft traditions of southern India. INFORMATION
Virginia Ryan - EVEN, SOMETIMES Curated by Matteo Pacini
17 October – 18 December 2026

Opening: 17 October 2026,6. 00 pm
Invitation-only event; confirmation appreciated

Spazio HASITA
Via Venini 58,Milan
Opening hours: 3.00 pm – 7.00 pm Tuesday – Saturday
And by appointment
The gallery will be closed on all public holidays.