Join us on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at the Civitella Castle for Presentations by Visual Arts Fellows Beya Gille Gacha & Athena LaTocha. Reserve your spot below or tune in to our livestream on Instagram @CivitellaRanieri.
6:00 PM CEST Welcome Cocktail
6:15 PM CEST/12:15 PM EDT Presentations
Beya Gille Gacha is a Franco-Cameroonian artist and curator living and working between France and Cameroon. She develops sculptural and immersive installations drawing on Bamileke beadwork, biomaterials, site-specific ecologies, cross-cultural ancestral knowledge, and ritual practices. Her artistic and curatorial practice explores the intersections of the body, the sacred, ecology, and transmutation. Her work has been presented internationally, including at the Dakar Biennale and the 61st Venice Biennale, and is in the Smithsonian Museum of African Art’s collection.
Athena LaTocha is an artist whose works explore the relationship between human-made and natural worlds. Her works are informed by her upbringing in the wilderness of Alaska and the impact of industrial development. LaTocha’s process is about being immersed in these environments, while responding to the storied and, at times, traumatic histories that are rooted in place. LaTocha is the recipient of the 2024 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2024), and the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2023), among others.