Blessing of Ruins

"Blessing of Ruins" comes to life through the fusion of two distinct but complementary photographic projects, the exploration of the domestic oppression and the attempt to make female resilience prevail and build a new beginning from it.

Ada Marino is an Italian visual artist based in Wales. Working at the intersection between photography and installation, her practice focuses on past events of her subjects, their memories and traumas that re-emerge and manifest as a form of cynical surrealism. Born and raised in Naples, Marino’s artistic formation is deeply rooted in her Southern culture and family experiences, mirroring the patriarchal domination that had surrounded her since childhood. Her background has served as a springboard, enabling to analyse and interpret the contradictory forces that shape society, inviting viewers to perceive the world through a different lens, aiming to increase dialogue and reflection, exposing the intricacies of the human condition, which lead to confront with uncomfortable truths, and challenging conventional notions of beauty and ugliness to provoke a reconsideration of our preconceptions. As a woman, mother and visual activist, Marino's practice focuses specifically on women, representing and documenting their experiences. Throughout Marino's practice, she embraces the causes, concerns and gender issues women are subjected to, and the daily stereotypes which women have to fight against, investigating socio- cultural phenomena which implicate deviant behaviours and identities structures, discussing in her practice gender inequality and celebrating complexity, power, and resilience of women. Marino’s works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions including Casa Azul (Gordola 2023-2024) Copeland Gallery (London, 2022), TATE Modern (London 2022), Ffotogallery, (Cardiff 2022-2023) LCB Depot Film 2023 as part of FORMAT23 (Leicester 2023) SERCHIA Gallery (Bristol 2023) Liquida Photofestival (Turin 2023) selected for Sola Journal publication “And Still I Rise” (2023) nominated FRESH EYES Talents 2023, published on Yogurt Magazine 2023 and British Journal of Photography 2024 . Marino was awarded the Alan Whatley Prize in 2023 and exhibited the body of work 'New Moons' at Stiwdio Griffith, Wales in 2023.