The artists Emilio Isgrò and Sheila Pepe (2025 Fellow) will discuss their research on public art. Isgrò’s first Seme d’Arancia dates from 1988 and Pepe’s My Neighbor’s Garden is from 2023. These works will start a discussion on the power of public art in building communities. The speakers will then explore the ideas of public space, monuments, and presence, and how these works can become moments of social change. Other disciplines play a role in both artists’ research such as performance, writing, playwriting, stitching, and object making.

Pepe is an artist and educator living and working in Brooklyn, New York, and currently in residence at the American Academy in Rome. Her work employs conceptualism, surrealism, and craft to address feminist and class issues. She has shown in museums and art galleries throughout the United States.

Born in 1937, Isgrò is a conceptual artist, writer, playwright, and director. From the 1960s onward he became famous for his erasures series as well as his public works. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1972, 1978, 1986, and 1993.

Isgrò’s books La Bella Addormentata and Cristo Velato are on view at the Academy’s exhibition Artists Making Books from September 27 to December 7, 2024.