The Exhibits

In Heaven, on Earth
MURIEL PÉNICAUD
A Photographic Universe
curated by Federico Crimi

Civico Museo Parisi Valle
Exhibition opening:
Saturday 28 March 2026, 5 p.m.

The exhibition runs until 28 June 2026

In an age marked by misunderstandings, the exploration of simultaneous contemporary worlds becomes more urgent than ever. This is why, for the first time in its little yet great history, Civico Museo Parisi Valle is opening a monographic exhibition entirely dedicated to photography, offering the public a truly comprehensive, profound and poetic view of reality. It is the view of Muriel Pénicaud.

Muriel Pénicaud is a photographer, author and committed politician who discovered her passion for photography at the age of eleven. Since then she has developed a humanistic and poetic approach inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s maxim: ‘Photographing is putting one’s head, eye and heart on the same line of sight’. Her gaze reveals the apparently invisible and captures the ephemeral, poetical moments in everyday life. This might be a bird in flight, a deep gaze, the meaning of a gesture, the soul of trees or a moment of freedom in women’s lives. Pénicaud’s photographs reflect her search for wonder and her social commitment. She has been exhibiting internationally since 2017 (Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Pondicherry, Dakar, Barcelona, Athens etc.). In 2024, her first monograph, Matrix of Worlds, with an introduction by the photographer REZA, was published by Skira Editions. This book explores three fundamental forces, earth, sky and woman: the primal sources that are necessary for our species to survive and regenerate. Pénicaud obtained the ‘Overall Global Winner’ title at the 2024 Julia Margaret Cameron Award and other international distinctions. She exhibited at the Museum of Photography in Saint-Louis (Senegal) and participated in the Indian Photo Festival in Hyderabad in 2025. A former French Minister of Labour, ambassador and business executive, she has since then continued her commitment to women, young people and in the field of arts. She set up the Sakura Foundation to support emerging artists who are treating social issues.

The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Muriel Pénicaud’s work presenting sixty black-and-white photographs, which are divided into four thematic parts: trees, birds, human souls and landscape. The interpretative key to this journey is the ‘poetic dwelling’ of humankind beneath the sky, nourished by the gifts of the earth. The photographer thus invites visitors to share her search for an intimate spirituality, embodied in trees, birds, human souls which connect the earth to the skies.

 ‘Muriel Pénicaud is not hunting for sensations, but looking for the poetical moments in life. Most moving in her images is the way she casts her gaze: she breaks through the boundaries of reality, interrupting for an instant the flow of everyday time. The artist invites us to perceive these moments more clearly and to contemplate the extraordinary power of life, made up of fleeting moments, freedom and untamed elegance. Her gaze is like a ray of light that illuminates the scene and reveals its hidden beauty (...). The portraits she presents to us are of deep humanity. The artist offers us a range of emotions without judgement or prejudice. This allows us to get very close to the persons without ever violating their intimacy, thus preserving the dignity of these moments. (...) Each image evokes a story highlighting a moment in the person’s life and questioning our conception of the world. In a cathartic movement, we recognise ourselves either in the elegance or the normality of those gestures and those gazes that awaken in us a profound sense of belonging to humanity.

We also experience strong feelings while observing images of birds: we are impressed (...) by their amazing aerial dances. They awaken in us a sense of admiration for the grandeur of flight, an ability that is deeply desired yet beyond reach for human beings. In these images, the birds give us a strong sense of freedom: the artist invites us to let go and allow our spirit to fly away with them.

Nature is constantly present in Muriel Pénicaud’s scenes, expressed through all the nuances of sensations that humans, animals, plants and natural elements stir in us. Matter and form raise their voice: sentient beings, the slow dance of the clouds in the sky, the stones that mark the earth or accompany humankind in urban architecture, they are all talking to us. In the images of trees, majestic and imposing, the artist invites us to listen in silence to the very voice of nature, a presence at once tragic and vital that has formed these wooden monuments since ancient times’ (from: Maria Cristina Madau, Istanti fugaci, in Muriel Pénicaud: Matrix of Worlds, Skira, Paris 2024).

Exhibition opening hours:

Friday: 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Free admission

Poster (click to enlarge)

Some works on display (click to enlarge)