ATHENS PRINTMAKING ART CENTER – PANDOLFINI & SIATERLI C.N.P.P. presents Allegra Corbo’s solo exhibition MAY ALL CREATURES BE HAPPY – banners and flags at ETCH INK art space from November 20 until December 13, 2025.

In her first solo exhibition in Athens, Allegra Corbo presents a series of fabric banners printed by hand, in dialogue with woodcut techniques and traditional block printing, creating a contemporary visual ritual.

Active for over thirty years in visual art, performance, and site-specific installations, Corbo moves fluidly across hybrid languages, intertwining manual experimentation, memory, and spatial relationships. Her work is marked by a deeply poetic and autobiographical aesthetic, expressed through enigmatic, visionary forms, as visual rebuses shaped by a constant inner tension.

The project MAY ALL CREATURES BE HAPPY takes its title from an ancient Sanskrit mantra of universal benevolence, a silent invocation that resonates throughout the exhibition. Upon entering the space, the viewer is welcomed by suspended banners: each one a message of peace inviting us to share a feeling of love for all living beings. A simple thought, in a world that is complex, harsh, and yet wondrous.

The compositions recall medieval or samurai banners, but with their symbols overturned—transcending hierarchies and factions. Naïve and essential figures emerge from the fabric with the iconic strength of ancient symbols and the joyful energy of childhood play. In their simplicity lies a powerful evocativeness: they invite the viewer to drift into imagination, distant memories, or shared desires.

The project was originally conceived in 2023 as an urban art intervention for the city of Santarcangelo di Romagna (Italy), where the banners were installed on public buildings, schools, and museums, becoming collective visual symbols and nourishment for the community. The first group of works was created at the historic Stamperia Bertozzi in Gambettola (Italy), in collaboration with the Bosco Urban Art Project festival.

Each piece was created through a fully manual process: the carved wooden matrix is dipped in pigment, carefully pressed onto fabric, and hand-stamped to bring the image to life. This repeated gesture takes on the cadence of a moving meditation. The sensory experience is rooted in the materials themselves—carved wood, raw fabric, the scent of pigments. Hand printing becomes a spiritual and artisanal ritual, in which the artist’s inner world is embodied in the act of making.

Within the ETCH INK space, the banners trace an experiential path for the visitor, who moves among the large printed textiles enveloped in an atmosphere that is both joyful and contemplative—like walking beneath rows of colorful prayer flags, where each step is accompanied by a silent wish for shared happiness.

 

Artist bio 

Allegra Corbo (b. 1968, Italy) creates narratives with archetypal and grotesque figures, where elements of fairy tales, symbols, and words compose philosophical puzzles that overturn the observer’s interpretative logic. A visual artist and performer, having lived in the Italian and European underground scene, she works with painting and collage, site-specific installations, fire sculptures, murals, and tapestries. She has collaborated with the theater groups Societas Raffaello Sanzio (Italy) and the cyberpunk circus Mutoid Waste Co. (Great Britain), key experiences in art and life. Since 1996, she has exhibited her works in Italy and abroad, in galleries, happenings, and contemporary art festivals and the visionary art scene. She designs artistic concepts for cities, ports, ships, abandoned and industrial architecture, and much more with the Pop Up! Festival team. In recent years, her research and artistic activity have explored diverse social contexts through community-specific events.

 

With the financial support and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens. 

The exhibition is curated by the association Fatti d’Arte in collaboration with the association Circuiti Dinamici, as part of Sorelle Festival.

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ETCH INK art space

16 Argyroupoleos str., Lycabettus, 114 71, Athens, Greece

Opening: Thursday 20 November, 18:30 – 22:30

Duration: 10 November – 13 December 2025

Opening days & hours:

Wednesday – Thursday – Friday 18.00 – 21.00 & Saturday 11.00 – 15.00

Info | [email protected] | www.athens-printmaking.com