Community Threads
28 February 2026 - 15 July 2026
CasermArcheologica, Sansepolcro
Italy
The exhibition 'Community Threads' emerges from a collaboration between CasermArcheologica, Lucy + Jorge Orta and curator Simonetta Carbonaro, during a residency in the Valtiberina region in July 2025 and the encounter with local residents invited to reflect on their attachment to the region.
This participatory process and testimonies collected form a site-specific installation: an encampment of five tent-like sculptures made from Tuscan linen and hemp. Drawing on the ancient archetype of the tent as a place of shelter and community, the work evokes gathering as a fundamental human gesture.
Each tent is formed from embroidered panels bearing the portraits of the participants, interwoven with gold pearls that amplify spoken memory. Ninety-nine hand-modelled terracotta forms—referencing local plants, animals and minerals—hang like amulets, anchoring the textiles and symbolising a fragile yet resilient communal ecology.
Conceived as a living space of encounter, 'Community Threads' transforms personal story into shared consciousness. As Carbonaro notes, “the work does not simply represent a community—it actively calls one into being, inviting collective reflection, participation and the imagining of new, possible futures.”