We are delighted to present the official catalogue for the exhibition VENUS – Valentino Garavani Through the Eyes of Joana Vasconcelos. Published as a comprehensive volume, it deepens the curatorial project and broadens the perspective through which audiences can approach the show, offering fresh critical tools to understand the intricate dialogue between art and fashion. More than a companion book, it works as an interpretative space where different languages—visual, symbolic, and sartorial—intersect, helping readers follow the threads that connect imagination, craftsmanship, and cultural vision.
Produced by PM23 | Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti, the catalogue is an editorial work that accompanies the exhibition by bringing together critical texts, exclusive imagery, and curated contributions. The result is a publication designed to reflect the complexity of the creative journey behind the project: from the conceptual framing of the exhibition to the way it translates aesthetic ideas into a shared, immersive experience. It is also a collectible object for those who want to go beyond the gallery setting, revisiting the themes and references that animate the exhibition in greater depth—through close reading of images and essays that contextualize the encounter between two distinctive artistic worlds.
This book is published in conjunction with VENUS. Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos’s exhibition at PM23 (18 January – 31 May, 2026) and in selected public sites across Rome, developed in dialogue with the work and legacy of Valentino Garavani and produced by the Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti. Conceived as a philanthropic foundation dedicated to education, culture, and social engagement, the Fondazione frames the project not only as an exhibition but as a platform in which art, fashion, and civic participation converge.
VENUS approaches Valentino’s work as a material and conceptual archive. Its forms, colors, and techniques are translated into large-scale sculptures and spatial environments that extend fashion into the domain of installation and public space. At the center of the project stands Valkyrie Venus, a monumental figure assembled from thousands of crocheted and textile modules produced through a wide participatory network involving schools, hospitals, refugee shelters, women’s shelters and prisons. The book documents both this collective process and the finished work, presenting craft as a social practice grounded in care, repetition, and shared labor.
Edited by Pamela Golbin, with texts by Pamela Golbin, Anna Coliva, Giulia Silvia Ghia, Daniele Luchetti, and Lucia Milazzotto, the volume combines critical essays, visual documentation, and narrative materials that situate Vasconcelos’s work within the historical and symbolic landscape of Rome and within broader reflections on ornament, the baroque, and the politics of display. A special project by Daniele Luchetti, developed specifically for the book, extends the exhibition into a parallel cinematic and testimonial dimension, recording the voices and experiences of the communities involved and anchoring the project in a social reality.
At the heart of the project is Joana Vasconcelos’ powerful, distinctive approach to art-making and storytelling. Her vision—intense, theatrical, and often rooted in material presence—creates a meaningful lens through which Valentino Garavani’s universe can be reimagined and reinterpreted. In this dialogue, fashion is not treated simply as style, but as a living expressive language: a system of gestures, forms, and symbolism capable of generating mythologies and emotional resonance. The catalogue, edited by Pamela Golbin and Joana Vasconcelos, and guided in its visual direction by Art Direction & Photography: Michele Colasuonno, therefore becomes an essential companion to the exhibition’s aims—inviting readers to explore both the enduring legacy of Valentino Garavani and the immersive, transformative perspective of Joana Vasconcelos.
Photo credits: PM23 | Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti
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