HERITAGE

The HERITAGE project explores the relationship between cultural heritage, urban spaces, and local communities in Brescia, using artistic practice and cultural research to address social inequalities and foster inclusion and social cohesion.

In collaboration with Fondazione Brescia Musei and anthropologist Ivan Bargna (University of Milano-Bicocca), artist Elena Mocchetti leads a process of research and engagement with communities across the city. Through photography, drawing, workshops, public encounters, and other forms of collaborative artistic practice, she works directly with people and local communities, creating spaces for dialogue and shared production.

The project moves from the heritage preserved by the Tosio Martinengo Gallery, the Brixia Archaeological Site, and the Santa Giulia Museum into the wider urban territory, including peripheral neighbourhoods. This process connects institutional heritage with the everyday knowledge, experiences, voices, and practices of the communities who inhabit the city.

The photographs, drawings, texts, voices, and materials produced through these encounters form a plural narrative that brings together people and forms of heritage often absent from official histories. The process culminates in La Santa, a public artwork conceived by Elena Mocchetti as a collective synthesis of the relationships, identities, and stories gathered throughout the project, and as a lasting gesture of connection between the city, its heritage, and its communities.