Ketty La Rocca

Ketty La Rocca (1938–1976) was an Italian artist whose influential work in body art, visual poetry, performance and photography challenged conventional language and communication. After moving to Florence in the postwar era, she became closely involved with the avant-garde Gruppo 70, creating collages, writings and performances that interrogated media, gender and the politics of expression. Central to her practice was the body—especially gesture and the hand—as a primal means of conveying meaning beyond words. La Rocca’s distinctive “riduzioni” and action-based pieces sought alternatives to patriarchal language systems, blending image, text and movement with wit and urgency. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and is held in major collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum Ostwall, Dortmund; and the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. In autumn 2025, the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London presented Ketty La Rocca: you you, the first UK museum exhibition dedicated to her work, offering a comprehensive view of her radical visual language.