Adoration (censored version) is a collaboration between French artist Pauline Curnier Jardin, curator Francesco Urbano Ragazzi and the Venetian cooperative Rio Terà dei Pensieri, 

wich helps reintegrate convicts  into the working world. For its presentation at Venice LIAF - Lofoten International Art Festival, the curators invited the artist to create a project with the sixty inmates of the Giudecca Women's Detention Center.

The video, whose script and animations were created by the artist and the inmates, is inspired by the history of the prison structure, which was once the Monastery of the Converted. Here, starting in the 16th century, the nuns, mainly former prostitutes, performed in theatrical performances for the citizenry during Carnival. The nuns wore lay clothes for the festivities, and for a moment were able to suspend the social rules that'd forced them into a monastic life.

Pauline Curnier Jardin
(Marseille, 1980, lives and works between Rome and Paris). She is the winner of the 2019 German Preis der Nationalgalerie, the 2021 Villa Romana Prize in Florence, and recipient of the 2019 - 2020 Villa Medici fellowship in Rome. Her artwork was included over the last years in: Lofoten International Art Festival (2022); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2021); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2021); Steirischer Herbst Festival, Graz (2020); Manifesta 13, Marseille; Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020); the 57th Venice Biennale; Tate Modern, London (2017); Performa 15, New York. Her film work has been awarded and presented in many festivals like IFFR Rotterdam, Doc Lisboa and  FID Marseille.
Selected Filmography
2021 Fireflies (Lucciole); 2021 Fat to Ashes; 2019 Bled Out; 2016 Explosion Ma Baby; 2011 Grotta Profunda, the moody chasm

paulinecurnierjardin.com

Image credits: Pauline Curnier Jardin, ChertLüdde, Berlin, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam