Restoration Conversations - Magazine Issue 9

Isabella D’Este, Nicole Farhi, Sepideh Farsi, Sarah Dunant, Juana Romani, Leonora Carrington, Anna Atkins, Cyrielle Gulacsy, Nancy Nicholson, Louisa Creed, Silvia Infranco and more….

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Spring/ Summer 2026

Restoration Conversations is a digital magazine, produced by Calliope Arts, spotlighting the achievements of women in history and today. It has two issues a year Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter.

Issue 9 of Restoration Conversations homes in on the quest of modern-day women, as they strive to bring little-known voices to wider audiences, including author Sarah Dunant, through The Marchesa, her book on unstoppable Renaissance ruler and trendsetter Isabella D’Este. In ‘Sirens Without Surnames’, musicologist Antonella D’Ovidio reveals the world of seventeenth-century female musicians – their training, professional networks and the stigma associated with performing on stage for pay.

In the issue’s ‘Women on the Frontline’ section, Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi shares a story of friendship and resilience in war-torn Gaza, examining the work and all-too-short life of photojournalist Fatma Hassona, co-protagonist of Farsi’s groundbreaking documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. ‘This Work Refuses Silence’, reveals two sides to sculptor Nicole Farhi’s practice: her very focused portraiture series, including J’Accuse and Children of Gaza, along with her larger-scale abstract ‘fragments’ of human figures which give full rein to the imagination.

The magazine shines a spotlight on artist and philanthropist Francesca Alexander, an Anglo-American expat in late nineteenth-century Florence, and Juana Romani, who achieved international renown as both painter and model at the 1903 World’s Fair and beyond. At London’s Freud Museum, curator Vanessa Boni helps us to identify unexpected affinities between Freud and surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, while at Tate Britain, curator Hilary Floe illuminates the multi-faceted work of photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller.    

Contemporary artists Silvia Infranco and Cyrielle Gulacsy, from Italy and France respectively, share their art journeys from gardens to the cosmos, as they prepare for future exhibitions at Florence’s Museo Sant’Orsola and Villa Il Palmerino. Gulascy’s techniques are in conversation with cyanotypes by nineteenth-century botanical illustrator Anna Atkins, whose creative ingenuity is uncovered in the article ‘Blue Prints’.

Textile artists and family relationships are at the forefront of Restoration Conversations, with the Relative Ties exhibition at The Women’s Art Collection in Cambridge, which spotlights generations of the Nicholson women along with contemporary artist Katie Schwab. In Florence, Il Palmerino Cultural Association is set to exhibit textile works and book art by Tuscan artist Elena Salvini Pierallini, in Other Gardens, co-curated by Giovanna Giusti and ESP’s daughters Sibilla and Beatrice.

Another daughter working to safeguard her mother’s creative legacy is Mary Engel, director of the Orkin/Engel Film and Photo Archive, and her interview – paired with that of French curator Anne Morin – unpacks the cinematographic power of Orkin’s still-photograph series. Enjoy the issue!