By Eugenio Murrali
“The courageous artistic vision of Vivian Suter overturns and transforms our dominant, sleepwalking categories,” said Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, as he opened Suter’s exhibition at the Botanical Garden of Rome.
Leaving room for the elements
That moment transformed her art. As Perrella explained, Suter stopped trying to control her paintings, which she had previously created indoors. From then on, she allowed the air, rain, soil, humidity, pawprints of her dogs, marks of plants and animals, and even sounds to interact with the canvases, layering over her bold brushstrokes, vivid colours, and abstract forms. “Through her work,” said Perrella, “and through the way she has chosen to live, Vivian reminds us that we are part of the environment.”
A world of interconnection
Displayed in an immersive installation that evokes the lush vibrancy of the tropical landscape where they are created, Suter’s works affirm that humanity is part of a wider, interconnected world. They convey an ecological sensitivity, inviting us to “care for our common home,” as Pope Francis writes in Laudato si’, and to take seriously the “ecological debt” mentioned in the Jubilee Bull — recognising that “the deterioration of the environment and of society especially affects the most vulnerable.” This idea, first expressed in the encyclical, was later echoed by Pope Leo XIV in the apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te.
The installations at Conciliazione 5 will remain on view until Dec 4, while those in the Monumental Greenhouse at the Botanical Garden will be open until Dec 14 2025. The 2025 Conciliazione 5 programme will conclude in December with a final project by an international artist, rounding off a year-long reflection on the major challenges of our time through the language of art.
The Conciliazione 5 programme
Following Yan Pei-Ming, who explored prison life in dialogue with inmates from Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, and Adrian Paci, who focused on the transformative power of travel, Vivian Suter turns to the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Curated by Cristiana Perrella, the 2025 Conciliazione 5 programme embraces the spirit of the Jubilee by tackling urgent social themes — imprisonment, migration, the environment, and poverty. Each featured artist creates a project that unfolds both in the gallery space on Via della Conciliazione — a 24-hour window gallery — and in a different location across the city, each one tied to the chosen theme. Together, they form a network of artistic encounters that extends beyond the Vatican’s borders, offering the public new ways of engaging with contemporary art and reflection. – Vatican News
