Born in Scandiano in 1992 to Togolese parents, Rosi works and lives between London and Modena. She works with photography, text and video to explore the ideas of memory, migration and diaspora. Through a series of self-portraits, she retraces her family history, drawing on her Togolese heritage and the migration journey that led her to be born in Italy, and investigating issues such as identity, citizenship, belonging.

“In my works I use imitation and embodiment as a way of understanding my own history. I impersonate members of my family because they’re the closest to me. They are key to unfold the issue of identity. I’m just trying to understand my history through the body of the people who played an important role in it. Putting myself in their shoes is part of that journey of self discovery,” she said in an interview on GRIOT.

The Prize’s jury stated that: “Silvia Rosi, Alessandra Ferrini (Florence, 1984, lives and works in London) and Namsal Siedlecki (Greenfield USA, 1986, lives and works in Seggiano – Grosseto – Italy) were chosen for their ability to express the aesthetic diversity, experimentation and productivity of the young Italian artistic generation through an innovative use of expressive means, from sculpture to photography and multimedia installations; for the urgency manifested in their practices to imagine the future, addressing the ecological issue through the transformation of matter, rethinking and redefining the question of cultural identity and geopolitical reality in relation to the consequences of colonization and socio-cultural transformations in the global context.”

Recognised by critics and curators such as Valentina Bruschi, Gaia Di Lorenzo, Eva Fabbris, Simone Frangi, Pier Paolo Pancotto, Gea Politi, Paola Ugolini and Eugenio Viola, the finalists were chosen by an international jury consisting of Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation – UAE), Chiara Parisi (Director Pompidou-Metz – France), Dirk Snauwaer (Director of WIELS Contemporary Art Center in Brussels – Belgium), Hou Hanru (Artistic Director of MAXXI) and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi (Director of MAXXI Art).

The site-specific works which will be created by the finalist artists will be exhibited in June 2022 in an exhibition at the MAXXI museum curated by Giulia Ferracci. In October 2022 the jury will evaluate the submitted works and will nominate the winner whose work will be acquired by the museum.