Florence Biennale and the Road to UNESCO

Before Florence: A Crisp of a Person

Before I exhibited in Florence, I was burnt out. I was teaching full-time, trying to maintain an art practice in the cracks of a life that didn't leave room for it, and questioning whether any of this was leading anywhere. I felt stuck in a cycle that wasn't mine.

On January 1st 2023, I flew to Italy alone. I needed to experience the world. I needed solitude. I needed to escape from speaking for as long as possible and meet people who didn't already have an opinion about who I was supposed to be.

I completed a five-week artist residency at Studio Panicale in Northern Tuscany before the Biennale. Five weeks of nothing but studio time and silence. That residency is where I finally understood that I didn't need to choose between my worlds. Lebanese and Australian. Mother and artist. Still and productive. I could hold all of it.

Florence Biennale 2023

What is the Florence Biennale?

The Florence Biennale is one of the most prestigious international contemporary art exhibitions in the world. Held at the historic Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy, it brings together jury-selected artists from dozens of countries. Being selected means your work has been vetted against thousands of submissions by an international panel.

I exhibited my Global Citizens Project. Ten women from eight countries, rendered in charcoal and wrapped in textiles. Each face showed a different emotional expression. Stacked vertically like architectural layers. Bodies as buildings. Identities as structures. The piece explored the emotional spectrum women move through in a single day and whether that spectrum is recognisable across cultures and continents.

Standing in the Fortezza da Basso, watching people from all over the world stop in front of my work, was surreal. People photographed it. They stood and talked about it to each other. A woman from Eastern Europe pointed at one of the faces and said she saw herself in it.

What Happened After Florence

My work caught the attention of organisers connected to Art Connects Women, an international initiative run by ZeeArts Gallery in Dubai. They told me to apply for the Australian Art Ambassador position. They said they were highly impressed and knew I was a strong candidate.

I applied. And I was successfully named Australia's Art Ambassador at the Art Connects Women exhibition.

Art Connects Women: Under the Patronage of UNESCO

What is Art Connects Women?

Art Connects Women is a landmark international exhibition and cultural initiative founded by artist, activist, and curator Zaahirah Muthy through ZeeArts Gallery. Launched in 2017, it has grown from 20 female artists representing 20 countries into one of the largest women's art exhibitions in the UAE and surrounding regions, now uniting artists from over 100 countries across five continents.

The event is held under the official patronage of UNESCO and aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for gender equality and cultural sustainability. It is far more than an exhibition. The programme spans cultural tours, conferences on fostering sustainable art ecosystems, an artist empowerment programme, and an awards gala recognising outstanding contributions to art and gender equity. Each participating artist has their work and portrait documented in a hardback art book titled Women Artists Around the World.

ZeeArts Gallery itself is a globally recognised art incubator headquartered in Dubai, with a mission to connect, collaborate, and celebrate the arts. The gallery has curated over 80 exhibitions across the UAE, France, Mauritius, Georgia, Lebanon, and Singapore, and was the first gallery to represent Middle Eastern artists at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.

What does being named Art Ambassador mean?

Each participating country is represented by an artist who serves as its Art Ambassador. Being selected for Australia means my work was recognised as representative of Australian contemporary art on an international stage, under the patronage of UNESCO. It is an official designation acknowledging my contribution to cultural diplomacy through art.

The recognition connects me to a global network of women artists, curators, collectors, policymakers, and cultural leaders. It places my work in the context of an international movement that uses art as a catalyst for social change. And it validates that the themes I explore, displacement, identity, belonging, the space between cultures, resonate far beyond my own experience.

The exhibition and conference convene an influential network of global female artists, investors, cultural leaders, entrepreneurs, and government officials. Being part of this network has opened doors to conversations and opportunities that would not have been possible exhibiting only within Australia.

What This Means for Collectors

Why does provenance matter?

Provenance increases value. A painting by an artist who has been jury-selected for Florence Biennale and named Art Ambassador under UNESCO patronage holds more weight than one without international recognition. It means the work has been vetted by international panels. It means the artist's career trajectory is upward. It means the piece you own is part of a body of work that has been exhibited and recognised on the world stage.

For collectors, this is the window. Acquiring work by an emerging artist with international credentials and a growing exhibition history is how collections are built with foresight, not hindsight.

Exhibition Timeline