From Venice with Love - Dishing Out Memories

Isabella So is a multidisciplinary theatre artist based in Manchester who draws on her Hong Kong Korean heritage to create boundary-pushing performances. Her work blends cultural storytelling with social engagement, crafting immersive experiences that challenge audiences while connecting them through intimate personal narratives delivered with her comedic twist!

At the intersection of identity, community, and shared human experience, Isabella's artistic practice mines the richness of her cultural background while amplifying marginalised voices. In 2024, she was selected as a Venice Fellow representing the Lowry and participated in the New Earth Academy Plus Programme and was one of the selected few to perform at their scratch night.

About Dishing Out Memories

Step into a world where kitchenware tells stories and food bridges cultures. "Dishing Out Memories” invites you to an intimate theatrical experience where the simple act of sharing a meal becomes an exploration of the intersections between food and culture.

Through interwoven conversations spanning generations and continents, witness how family recipes, cherished kitchenware and cooking traditions shape our identities.

So, pull up a seat, and join us on our journey featuring live cooking, video projections, and heartfelt storytelling that celebrates the invisible threads binding us through our shared meals.

As a Venice Biennale fellow, Amy spent her free time exploring the city for historical depictions of Venetian Moors and people of colour. After several encounters with stereotypical imagery, she began searching for new narratives. Her discoveries led to the creation of the project, ‘Enter, TRAGIC MULATTA’.

‘Enter, TRAGIC MULATTA’ investigates what we can learn about ourselves by researching our family history. Combining archive and film, the project chronicles Amy’s experience of tracing her ancestral lines from colonial Jamaica to na h-Eileanan Siar (the Outer Hebrides).

Venice, With Love: Echoes of the Lagoon

Venice, With Love explores cultural identity, transition, and liminality within Venice’s shifting landscape. Initially titled Liminal Echoes, the project was influenced by

Biennale Arte 2024 and John Akomfrah’s work, focusing on evolving identities through photography, sound, and visual poetry workshops.

As it developed, the project became more immersive, capturing Venice’s cultural and environmental fragility. Floating Red, a key photographic series, follows drifting red seaweed—symbolising the city’s constant flux. Cyanotype workshops invited participants to imprint reflections onto fabric, creating a collective meditation on memory and belonging.

Mila Januszova is a Polish-born artist-curator based in Manchester. Januszova was selected for the Fellowship whilst a studying on the MA Contemporary Curating programme at MMU. Their socially engaged practice explores feminist, queer, and cultural narratives. Navigating chronic illness has shaped their process-based approach, embracing slowness, reflection, and organic development. Curating is integral to their practice, treating exhibitions as living artworks that foster dialogue. They have curated QUEERBITION#1 (2022) and Borders Unveiled (2024) and held residencies in Budapest and Venice, with upcoming projects in Lisbon, Budapest and Poland.

Emelia’s Venice Fellowship with Venture Arts expanded her photography practice to experiment with cyanotype and camera obscura as well as pushing digital and analogue methods further. She explored global bodies of water mirroring global movement of people, reflection and contemporary effects of humans on the lagoon. She was inspired by John Akomfrah’s Canto series while working in the British pavilion and created her own Canto series presented as a book and prints. She used sound recording, video and freehand drawing. Emelia visited Sant ‘Erasmo collaborating with We Are Here Venice and Italian artist Claudio Beorchia on his Laguna Dei Cippi project, focusing on environmental shifts in the lagoon. These experiences are all present in her work. Emelia’s photography is intentionally obscured and dreamlike, with images taken through a reflection in windows or water. This asks more of the viewer, inviting them to find layers and narratives within. Emelia loved Venice and plans to return regularly.

Michael thoroughly enjoyed staying in Venice for one month in October 2024, supported by Venture Arts. During his residency, Michael worked as a Fellow at the British Pavilion at Venice Biennale, simultaneously creating his ow

n work. His artwork took a vast leap into deeper exploration of digital artwork forms (After Effects, Procreate, Indesign), mapping routes of Venice, pinhole photography, drawing by eye and sound recording. He recreated historical artist interpretations of Venice and contemporary biennale artworks in his own style, made a personalised accessible guide to Venice (digital and print) and enjoyed learning the language, eating the food, watching Venezia FC and immersing himself in the culture. Michael also collaborated with We Are Here Venice and Italian artist Claudio Beorchia on his Laguna Dei Cippi project in Sant ‘Erasmo, focusing on tracking long term environmental shifts in the lagoon.

During her time at the Biennale, Caitlin explored how power is distributed through access, production and positionality within exhibition structures. While the Biennale is framed as a global cultural exchange, its significance is shaped by who can engage with it, raising questions about accessibility, power and control.

Inspired by Katya Buchatska’s ‘Best Wishes’ at the Ukrainian Pavilion, Caitlin designed a workshop inviting neurodiverse artists from Venture Arts to radically intervene in the British Pavilion. Using collage and drawing, participants explored absurd, playful and subversive ways of navigating spaces that were not designed with them in mind. The resulting artworks challenge conventional ideas of accessibility, reclaiming autonomy through humour and creative resistance. This project prompts critical conversations on equity, power and who truly gets to shape our cultural narratives.