In Paris, the City of Light, the curatorial platform Lux Feminae finds its latest home. Its name, rooted in the Latin for ‘the light of women’, is more than a title; it is a statement of intent. Now in its sixth edition, the curatorial platform returns with the exhibition ‘Vita Dopo Vita’—life after life— at Galerie Derouillon. Through distortion, and renewal, the works on view question whether anything in art or memory is truly fixed.
Lux Feminae was founded to illuminate emerging female artists, offering a platform where new voices could be seen, heard, and understood within the shifting landscape of contemporary art. Over six editions, it has become a curatorial force, creating space for dialogue and reinvention. From New York to London, Mexico City and now Paris, Lux Feminae has championed artists whose work challenges and expands the language of contemporary image-making. Founded in 2022 by Lily Cohen and Olivia Zabludowicz, it has cultivated a presence that is neither institutional nor ephemeral, but a space where art is continuously reinterpreted and dialogue is as essential as display.
Now, with ‘Vita Dopo Vita’, Lux Feminae arrives in Paris at Galerie Derouillon in the Marais, presenting an exhibition that examines the persistence of images and how memory is reshaped through repetition, distortion, and renewal.
Curated by Lily Cohen and Olivia Zabludowicz along with Nadia Hejailan Vita Dopo Vita considers what it means for an image to live beyond its moment of creation. Works by Daniele Toneatti, Ala d’Amico, and Hedi Stanton interrogate the very notion of permanence, unpicking the structures that shape how we see, remember, and reinterpret.
“Each of the three artists in this show explore the concept of reproduction in different ways” says Cohen. “Ala’s practice is rooted in printmaking, working through a mechanical process of repetition. Daniele moves more fluidly between mediums, layering imagery and revisiting compositions through an iterative approach. Hedi complicates perception through framing, creating a play between what is revealed and what is withheld. Each, in their own way, engages with the instability of images and memory.”
For Zabludowicz, the exhibition’s title, ‘Vita Dopo Vita’, speaks to more than just the works themselves—it is an idea embedded in Lux Feminae’s approach. “Each artist is engaging with reinvention, ensuring that their subject never remains static but continues evolving through time.”
Toneatti’s compositions drift between figuration and abstraction, balancing instinct and precision, layering found imagery with gestural mark-making that destabilise its original context. Daughter at D’Orsay (2024) splices together historical references with contemporary interventions, while First World Wall (2025) plays with excavation, layering and obscuring meaning in equal measure.
D’Amico’s Sasso series (2016) experiments with the fragility of visual memory, using fountain pen ink and graphite on newsprint to evoke traces of erased histories. Her practice, rooted in silkscreen techniques, examines how images can be both reprinted and lost, their meaning shifting with each reproduction.
Stanton’s Portrait on a Wall (2024), an inkjet print mounted on antique Victorian wallpaper, complicates the relationship between past and present, constructing an illusion of depth that resists resolution. Her photographs oscillate between presence and disappearance, exploring the act of looking itself, questioning what is revealed, what is withheld, and how framing dictates perception.
“Our goal was to create a conversation between the works rather than a competition” says Hejailan, “even though each artist works in a different medium, their approaches to repetition and transformation naturally draw them together. There is a shared lightness, a softness, a way of seeing that ties them into a coherent narrative.”
Photography plays a crucial role in ‘Vita Dopo Vita’, reinforcing the exhibition’s meditation on artistic transformation. A medium often associated with permanence is reconsidered here as something fluid and contingent. “Daniele’s process is about iteration – reworking images over time. Ala engages with the past, blending personal and historic visuals to create something layered and newly imagined. Hedi, meanwhile, plays with framing, constriction compositions that distort depth and perception,” says Zabludowicz.
For Cohen, Lux Feminae has always been about creating a space that allows for this interplay. “We walk through the exhibition in every direction, rearrange the work endlessly until the harmony is right, until we have achieved the Lux Feminae we are in search of. Each of our artists, when shown together, lift each other up and illuminate one another.”
At its core, Lux Feminae is about creating a space that is neither institutional nor ephemeral, something that Zabludowicz describes as “a fluid, evolving structure that moves beyond the constraints of a traditional gallery.”
Daniele Toneatti, ‘Bedroom Wall Drawing #3,’ 2024
“Doing this independently has been one of the best educations you could get,” says Cohen, “every challenge, from logistics to credibility, we’ve navigated together. With each show we stand a little taller and take pride in our growing legitimacy.”
For Hejailan, Vita Dopo Vita extends this ethos into the works themselves. “Art never exists in isolation. These works remind us that images live beyond their moment of creation. They are revisited, reinterpreted, and never truly finished.”
Curatorial platforms such as Lux Feminae are essential, particularly in a landscape where opportunities for emerging artists are still shaped by established institutions. To offer an alternative is to introduce new perspectives, and to rethink the ways in which art is presented and engaged with. Vita Dopo Vita extends this idea into the works themselves, asking whether an image can ever be truly fixed, or whether it is always subject to revision, excavation, and reinvention. This exhibition resists stasis, refuses resolution, and reminds us that art is not something to be passively observed, but actively questioned.
Lux Feminae: Vita Dopo Vita is on view in Paris at Galerie Derouillon until Wednesday 5th March
