Martina Zanin
EVERY CARESS, A BLOW
February 19 – April 18, 2026
With EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Nashira Gallery inaugurated its collaboration with Martina Zanin. Presented at Fondazione Pastificio Cerere in Rome from February 19 to April 18, 2026 and curated by Antonio Grulli, the exhibition marked the first project developed jointly by the gallery and the artist.
Deeply rooted in autobiographical experience, Martina Zanin’s practice explores the complexities of human relationships through themes of vulnerability, absence, memory, trauma, and power. Working across photography, sculpture, and installation, the artist investigates the subtle and often ambiguous boundary between care and control, tenderness and domination, revealing how body and identity are shaped within intimate relationships informed by invisible yet enduring forces.
EVERY CARESS, A BLOW unfolded as an immersive environment that invited visitors to inhabit a space of tension, where protection and possession coexist. Central to Zanin’s research is the relationship between the human and the animal, particularly the dynamics of predator and prey, evoked through symbolic, totemic figures such as the hawk and the hare—metaphors for instinct, ferocity, and vulnerability. Emerging from the intersection of psychology, ethology, spirituality, and personal experience, the works gave form to a constellation of images, ritual gestures, and sculptural presences that extended throughout the exhibition. Fragmented photographs, installations, and sculptures constructed a layered narrative in which power is not expressed through overt violence but embodied within relationships and the body itself. The exhibition culminated in an architectural installation that conceived the body as a burrow: an ambivalent space of refuge and entrapment, incubation and transformation, inviting visitors into an intimate and deeply physical experience.
PRESS
Installation view Martina Zanin, EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere 2026. Courtesy Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
Martina Zanin, Fury (trittico), 2021, Inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper mounted on aluminum, 82×55 cm (framed). Courtesy of the Artist and Nashira Gallery. Installation view EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, 2026. Courtesy of Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
Martina Zanin, Metamorphosis, 2023, Inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper mounted on aluminum, 122×82 cm (framed). Courtesy of the Artist and Nashira Gallery. Installation view EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, 2026. Courtesy of Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
Martina Zanin, detail of A PREDATOR, IS A PREDATOR, IS A PREDATOR…, 2026. Bronze, 65x5x8 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and Nashira Gallery. Installation view EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, 2026. Courtesy of Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
Installation view Martina Zanin, EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere 2026. Courtesy Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
Martina Zanin, AMBIENTI. TANE – Rabbit Hole, 2026. Leather, pipes, joints, 330x380x450 cm (dimensions variable). Courtesy of the Artist and Nashira Gallery. Installation view EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, 2026. Courtesy of Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
Installation view Martina Zanin, EVERY CARESS, A BLOW, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere 2026. Courtesy Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Ph: Carlo Romano
