04 Mag Vela d’Artista | Terza edizione – Jocasta / Giocasta di Dani Trew
Vela d’Artista | Third Edition – Jocasta by Dani Trew
Art, sustainability, and social inclusion between the Biennale Arte and Biennale Cinema
Coinciding with the opening of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, titled In Minor Keys, on May 5, 2026, Edipo Re launches in Venice the third edition of the Vela d’Artista (Artist’s Sail) project, featuring Jocasta by British artist Dani Trew. Vela d’Artista invites contemporary artists to conceive and create a sail for Edipo Re—the historic vessel closely associated with Pier Paolo Pasolini—weaving together themes of environmental sustainability and social inclusion. For its third edition, the project presents a work centered on Jocasta, offering a contemporary reflection on feminine values through a bold re reading of a canonical figure from Greek literature. Aboard Edipo Re, in Dani Trew’s visual language and inspired by the feminist thought of Carla Lonzi, Jocasta emerges as an anti-model to patriarchal narratives, reclaiming her subjectivity and autonomy, and ultimately becoming the author of her own destiny. During the opening days of the Biennale Arte, the vessel will take on a new role as a unique floating pavilion, welcoming visitors to experience the artwork both while sailing and on board:
Daily, from May 5 to May 8
At sea:
• On view – Bacino di San Marco: 12:00–13:00 and 19:00–20:00 — visible from the San
Marco / Giardini Reali waterfront or from Punta della Dogana / Salute
Moored:
• Open to visitors – Marina di Sant’Elena: 14:00–17:00 — at the dock
The Vela d’Artista project was conceived to build a bridge between the La Biennale di Venezia and the Venice Film Festival, linking the world of contemporary art with key themes such as environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and human rights. During the Venice Film Festival (September 2–12), audiences will also be invited to take part in a programme of activities dedicated to the sail as part of Isola Edipo, offering further opportunities to engage
with and activate the work.
EDITORIAL NOTES
About the Artwork
Dani Trew
Jocasta, 2025
Oil on board
80.6 x 100.8 x 129 cm
Private Collection
Artist’s Quote
“My painting Jocasta foregrounds the mother of Oedipus Rex, a marginalised presence in Sophocles’ play, as a character with a complex inner life. Developed through research on the original text, as well as its interpretation in film, dance, and feminist theory, the painting captures the critical moment when she confronts her fate. Influenced by the writings of Carla
Lonzi, it positions her as a woman constrained by the roles imposed upon her: mother, wife, and queen within a patriarchal structure she did not choose. The painting seeks to reclaim her voice and reframe her story as one of emotional depth, resistance, and tragic awareness.
The imagery centres on bound feet and legs, straining forward in tension, a motif that brings together mythology, fashion history, and material culture. It echoes both the physical binding of Oedipus’s ankles as a child (when he was abandoned on mount Cithaeron), as well as the social and psychological constraints placed upon Jocasta. Transposed onto the sail of the
Edipo Re, the painting transforms a symbol of restriction into one of motion and visibility. In this context, the work speaks to enduring questions of autonomy, embodiment, and the forces that shape women’s lives, offering a contemporary reimagining of Jocasta’s presence within both play and the modern world.”
Artist’s Bio
Dani Trew (b. 1991 in South Africa, raised in London) explores personal mythologies and notions of femininity through her drawings and paintings. Trew studied English Literature at the University of Oxford, and History of Design at the RCA, before starting a PhD on fashion and politics in late 19th century Britain. She also worked as an Assistant Curator in the V&A’s Furniture, Textile and Fashion Department, as a Curatorial Researcher for V&A East, and on a number of Fashion-related exhibitions. In 2015, she was shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award, and in 2023 she graduated from the Royal Drawing School’s postgraduate
programme.
Influenced by her career as a design historian and curator, as well as her multicultural background, Trew’s drawings and paintings use disparate objects, textiles, and architectural features to examine tensions within internal worlds and narratives. Her work is characterised by exquisite detailing and the fusion of contemporary fashion with these art historical references, creating paintings which have both a sense of stillness and a psychological intensity. Dani Trew will be having a solo exhibition at Lyndsey Ingram, London, in November this year.
Background and Concept of Vela d’Artista
The Vela d’Artista project was launched in 2022 in the heart of the Venetian Lagoon with the aim of creating a bridge between the La Biennale di Venezia and the Venice Film Festival. Artists are invited to conceive a work in the form of a sail for the historic vessel Edipo Re, producing an original piece that embodies the powerful and inseparable connection between
art, sustainability, and inclusion.
The first edition of the project—promoted by Edipo Re Impresa Sociale in collaboration with The Venice Venice Hotel—featured an artist’s sail by Emilio Isgrò, created to mark the centenary of the birth of Pier Paolo Pasolini.
The second edition was developed by Atelier dell’Errore, a collective working across visual arts and performance, with the site-specific work AdE_Vela_Rapido, exploring intertwined values such as inclusion, imagination, sharing, and redemption.
Over time, Edipo Re has evolved into both a creative and exhibition space—an itinerant pavilion and a floating island within the lagoon—offering an immersive artistic experience.
Born from the activation of meaningful collaborations among cultural institutions, hospitality partners, and international stakeholders across Venice, the project demonstrates how restoring culture to a central role—through the convergence of diverse skills and spaces—can generate new, sustainable models of value creation. Rather than driving consumption, these models reinvest value into the very context from which they emerge.
Promoting Organization
Edipo Re
Established to enhance the symbolic legacy of the vessel Edipo Re—which once hosted Pier
Paolo Pasolini and Maria Callas—Edipo Re develops cultural and artistic projects defined by
a strong ethical vision, rooted in social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Its initiatives are shaped through collaborations with local, national, and international
institutions and organizations, and include educational programs as well as pathways for
workforce inclusion, particularly aimed at communities often excluded from traditional
economic circuits.
CONTACTS
For further press information, please contact:
Edipo Re
Silvia Jop | silviajop.venezia@gmail.com
The artist is represented by:
Lyndsey Ingram
16-20 Bourdon Street
London W1K 3PJ
olivia@lyndseyingram.com
Edipo Re
edipore.it/
info@edipore.it
@ediporeboat