Angelica’s interdisciplinary practice engages artistic research, writing, pedagogy, care, and practices of commoning to weave new relationships between past & present, human & more-than-human, and neighbors, friends & strangers. See below for a selection of current and past research, residencies, curatorial work, pedagogical practice, and publications.
projects
research
Primavera del Salento • 2021 – ongoing
Ongoing research project on landscape, belonging, practices of place-making, botanical drawing, and memory. Based on the archives of my grandmother, Dagmar Davidson, Swedish artist and poet who lived and worked in the Salento area of Italy for over 60 years.
research
Finibusterrae • 2019 – ongoing
Ongoing research project on the past, present, and future of Salento’s olive landscapes. Collaboration with photographer Sasha Arutyunova since 2021. Visual and ethnographic exploration of the geographies of capital that remade southern Italian landscapes, on tree care practices,, on fire and burning, and on future imaginaries.
publication
Robida 11: Orchard • nov 2025
Finibusterrae: On the fires and futures of Salento’s olive groves. Photos & words, in collaboration with Sasha Arutyunova, based on our ongoing work on olive tree landscapes in Salento.
Tree Pruning as Ethical Doing: Practices for Living with Trees in Naturecultural Worlds. Essay based on research conducted in Salento, Italy & Brooklyn, NY on tree pruning practices and care.
residency
(im)permanente paradiso • Diso & Castiglione d’Otranto, IT • participant • aug 2025
Collectively inhabit and animate a once-abandoned home in an agricultural village in south Salento. Volunteer at Notte Verde Festival in Castiglione d’Otranto.
curation
Entity of Decolonization Annual Gathering • Carlentini, IT / Stockholm, SE / online • curatorial team • jun 2025
Member of curatorial team for the Entity of Decolonization Annual Gathering in Borgo Ex (Carlentini, Sicily), “Home is the Mother of Return.” Located in the site of a former fascist colony in rural Sicily, the curatorial team invited participants to reflect on home as place and practice, and on the act of homing, returning, escaping, and indulging, as practices towards remaking spaces and ways in being in the wake of violence.
residency
Herbarium • Fondazione Lac o Le Mon – San Cesario, IT • participant • jun 2025
Following shifting light and shadow, and relationship with self and other, explored and created a collective, ephemeral herbarium based on cyanotype and silver printing practices.
writing & performance
I am you, you are me. Let everything be for our neighbor • Progetto Gallery – Lecce, IT • participant / performer may 2025
Participant in writing workshop & collective performance by Marco Vitale at Progetto Gallery.
residency
The After School • Nairobi & Laikipia, Kenya / online • research fellow • nov 2024
Participated in deschooled education space focused on exploring artistic and decolonial practices alongside cohort of research fellows in Nairobi and Laikipia, Kenya, including poetry workshop conducted by K’eguro Macharia.
As a product of residency, conducted performance piece in the Tafaria Castle farm based on readings from works of John Berger.
community
Decolonizing Art and Architecture Studies • Diso, IT / Carlentini, IT • participant • 2024 – 2025
Led and facilitated workshops and reading groups on practices of feminist commoning. Participate in workshops in Diso, IT and Annual Gathering at Borgo Ex in Carlentini, Sicily focused on artistic research, decolonial and collective practice, and histories of fascism in architecture and landscape.
curation
Storie e dipinti tra la biodiversità segreta dei Canaloni del Parco: Mostra dedicata all’artista Dagmar Davidson • S. Maria di Leuca, IT • curator / speaker • may 2023
In collaboration with the Otranto – S. Maria di Leuca regional park, curate exhibition and event dedicated to the biodiversity of the park and the Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula. Opening of the exhibition included a hike in the park with local naturalists and introduction to the artwork alongside botanist and biologists.
curation
La Botanica di Rauccio: Mostra e percorso sonoro ammirando e ascoltando le opere di Dagmar Davidson • Lecce, IT • curator • sept 2022
In collaboration with Fucina Salentina, WWF Salento, and Salento Bici Tour, curate exhibition and event dedicated to the rare botanical species of the Rauccio regional park. Opening of the exhibition include a hike in the park alongside readings of Dagmar Davidson’s poems in select locations in the park.
curation
Disegno dal Vero in Natura, sulle orme di Dagmar Davidson • Lecce, IT • curator • may 2022
In collaboration with Disegno dal Vero, Villa Paciugo, and Cluster8, curate exhibition and event dedicated to botanical drawing at Villa Paciugo, a community space dedicated to environmental education. Opening of the exhibition included a walk with botanist Piero Medagli, poetry readings by Aurelia Cippollini, and opportunities to practice botanical and nature drawing en plein aire.
teaching
Environmental Justice, Development, and Just Transitions in Senegal • online + Senegal • teacher & facilitator; syllabus development • spring 2022
Designed syllabus and implemented online course and experiential, travel-based seminar in Senegal () for high school students from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (Atlanta, GA, USA). Seminar included interviews with scholars, activists, organizers, and community members affected by energy and coastal development projects in St. Louis, Niodior, and Dakar, Senegal.
teaching
After the Anthropocene: Creative Practices for Remaking Worlds • online • teacher & facilitator; syllabus development • spring 2022
Designed syllabus and implemented online course offering the opportunity to revisit creative and/or daily practices through the lens of philosophy, politics, and feminist theory. The course asked: how can embodied practices remake relationships, and what kinds of practices, relationships, and art might both represent and create more equitable and just worlds?
teaching
Groundwork Food Systems Fellowship Mentor • Paonia, CO • teacher & facilitator; syllabus development • july 2021
Co-designed syllabus and format for Groundwork Food Systems fellowship, focused on combining practical, experiential learning on an educational farm with thoughtful engagement with critical theory focused on exploring the intersection of ecology, economics, and culture through the lens of feminist, post-colonial, and indigenous perspectives.
teaching
Environmental Justice & Inequality, NYU Environmental Studies Department • online • summer 2021
Teaching Assistant for NYU Environmental Studies department summer course on Environmental Justice & Inequality. Collaborated on syllabus development, taught lessons, facilitated discussions, graded assignments.
research
Community Engagement 101, Parsons / The New School • New York, NY • research & facilitation • 2019 – 2021
Develop and produce curricular research project and proposed introductory curriculum for faculty and teaching graduate students across The New School who incorporate external engagement or partnership as a part of their syllabus. Collaboratively produced in-person and remote workshop modules at various lengths and resources available to the public on the TNS’s Collaboratory website.
publication
Where There Be Dragons Blog • spring 2020
“How to Pay Attention”: Featured post on Where There Be Dragons blog, focused on attention, presence, and care in rural Laos, inspired by Mary Oliver.
publication
Atlas Obscura • 2015
Research and reporting on witchcraft in contemporary Massachusetts, the history of the two-tailed mermaid on your Starbucks cup, the pizzica dances and tarantula possession of southern Italy, Ghana’s fantasy coffin industry, and more.
publication
The New Journal • 2014
Research and reporting on how the tradition of Tibetan thangka painting gained a dedicated following in New Haven, CT.
• other • community & collectives •
community
Fucina Salentina • Lecce, IT • board of directors • 2022 – ongoing
Ongoing collaboration with local community-based organization in Lecce to activate a community center and social space focused on informal and experiential learning, culture and creativity, environmental sustainability, and well-being.
community
Orto Comune / Communal Garden • Villa Paciugo, Lecce, IT • member • 2022 – 2024
Collectively farm a one-hectare space on the outskirts of Lecce, IT. Explore questions related to practical work of maintaining garden spaces, collective harvest, cooking and processing, and distribution.
community
Laying Groundwork • online • founding board of directors • 2021 – 2023
Support board of directors in stewarding and articulating mission, vision and values, developing logo and website text, and developing and promoting initial programming, including Groundwork Fellowship Program.
angelica calabrese 