All Down on the Ground

Curated by Grazia Mori
Galleria Objets, London

The first day I arrived in London, I rushed to an opening that Francesca had invited me to, someone I had not met before. Feeling shy, I viewed the exhibition in silence and left to catch a bus. On my way, I sent her a message to compliment her work; she replied, inviting me to meet her at a pub.

Moments later, my phone died. I had been in London for only two hours and had no idea how to return home. I decided to search for the pub anyway, hoping to charge my phone and find my way. After forty minutes wandering through South London, I finally found it. There, through a chain of coincidences and conversations, I met people who, unexpectedly, were connected to one of my closest friends in Italy. That night, moving from one pub to another until dawn, set the tone for my life in London.

When the time came to curate this exhibition, I immediately thought of them. Our shared experiences revealed invisible connections between our works, our visions, and our presence here. All Down on the Ground originates from that evening and from the recognition that chance encounters and accidental moments can shape both artistic practice and human connection.

Inspired by a children’s song, the title becomes a metaphor for our shared condition. We are all “down on the ground”: equal, vulnerable, navigating a world in which others often make the decisions while we continue to live, create, and adapt. It is a reflection on our times, complex and uncertain, yet sustained by the desire to rise again.

The works in the exhibition resist artificial elevation. They remain accessible, direct, and grounded in lived experience, in the textures of the everyday. Here, Adam and Eve have already fallen from Eden; what remains are traces of urban landscapes, fragments of popular culture, and the quiet persistence of resilience.

All Down on the Ground is a collective meditation on presence and grounding. Galleria Objets affirms itself as a living space to be inhabited and experienced, rejecting elitism and celebrating accessibility as an artistic value. At a time when many feel on the ground, this exhibition reminds us that it is precisely from there that we rediscover the strength to stand.

“Falling and meeting are part of the same movement. To be on the ground means to be close to one another.”
G.Mori