At Artopia in Milan, Porous Kinship brings together five artists in a group exhibition curated by Maddalena Iodice, reflecting on the relationship between body, matter, and environment. The intention is to create a dialogue between works that differ in language and materials, yet are united by the idea that nature is not a distant backdrop, but rather a presence with which we are constantly in relation.
Painting, sculpture, and video alternate throughout the exhibition, suggesting a reading of the world in which the human and the natural influence each other. The works focus on slow transformations, direct contact, and collaborations between different elements, inviting viewers to observe matter as something alive and constantly changing.
Kesewa Aboah works precisely on the physical contact between body and surface. Her metal engravings emerge from direct gestures, in which the body leaves traces and imprints scattered across the surface. The works from the series July, series (N.1–4), 2026 show repeated and irregular marks — small presences that recount a close encounter between skin and material.
The work of Alberte Agerskov instead focuses on natural processes and gradual transformations. In the series MP Mutual Pressure, 2026, the artist allows water and stone to interact over time, letting erosion slowly shape the surface. The works reveal the result of a progressive change, where the final form is the outcome of a relationship between elements.
A collaborative dimension also emerges in the work of Aléa Work, a creative studio founded by Miriam Josi and Stella Lee Prowse. Here, mycelium — the underground fungal network — directly intervenes in the creative process. In Mycelial Pattern N.7, 2026, a long suspended textile runs through the gallery, marked by shapes generated by the organic growth of mycelium. The surfaces change over time, making visible the contribution of a natural agent within the artwork.
In Dimitra Charamandas‘ paintings, landscapes and organic surfaces blend together. Her canvases suggest territories that resemble skin, rocks, or geological formations, creating images suspended between abstraction and landscape. The large canvas Terraces, outfields (Nadia), 2025 introduces this research, while smaller works from the Little inlets series emerge from the walls, emphasizing the physical dimension of painting.
The exhibition concludes with the video When the Sea Swallows, 2022 by Diana Policarpo, which tells the story of a small island through an imagined narrative. The work reflects on environmental change and the relationship between territory, memory, and transformation, offering a perspective in which the landscape becomes the protagonist.
Conceived in relation to the gallery spaces, Porous Kinship unfolds as a narrative in which each work contributes to building a shared environment. Artopia presents an exhibition that invites viewers to observe more closely the invisible relationships between body, matter, and nature, transforming the exhibition experience into a moment of listening and connection.
ph. Michela Pedranti
