Vita

© Felicitas Yang & Armando Milano © Felicitas Yang & Armando Milano

“I am Nezilla. For whatever reason, the monster is what I’m attracted to. I explore the monster that we are. That’s where my art is coming from. The focus of my artistic work is war, propaganda, fake news and religion.”

Nezilla (born 1990) is a German-Italian artist.

Her art explores the intertwining of current social and political discourses and the way in which these influence social interaction. Nezilla's work is characterised by overarching aspects of human perception and structural mechanisms, the effects of which are evident not only in physical violence but also in the struggle for interpretative authority in public space.

Through the use of concise symbols and visually powerful forms, Nezilla invites us to question established notions of truth, power and responsibility. The works avoid unambiguous statements or didactic interpretations. Instead, they open up different levels of interpretation and generate emotional responses that confront the viewer with their own assumptions and perspectives.

Nezillas' sculpture ‘Paperbomb’ gained international recognition through its installation at historically significant locations in France and Germany. Based on the 1,600 origami cranes of Hibakusha Sadako Sasaki, the work transforms the destructive symbol of the bomb into a fragile, paper-like form. The two-metre-high metal sculptures appear light and folded, referring to the structural vulnerability of peace.

Through its placement at memorial sites, Paperbomb becomes a transnational monument against forgetting and encourages reflection on individual responsibility and the consequences of human actions. In Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane, sites of Nazi massacres, Paperbomb forms a bridge between the historical past and a shared European future. On Hartmannswillerkopf, a central site of the First World War, it marks the transformation from a place of military destruction to a space of reconciliation 110 years after the start of the war. In Mannheim's Zeughausgarten, the sculpture transforms a former weapons depot into a place of critical remembrance and encounter. A four-metre-high version is currently installed in front of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. There, ‘Paperbomb’ refers to the fragility of peace and emphasises the importance of dialogue, law and political responsibility for social stability. The diplomatic power of the project also became clear when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with a miniature version of ‘Paperbomb’ as a symbol of friendship and responsibility in Oradour-sur-Glane.

Paperbomb.art

Nezilla is the winner of the DA! Art Award 2022 — Düsseldorf's secular art prize that promotes critical artistic engagement with religion and irrationalism — and was appointed as a jury member in 2024. Her work ‘Trust’ was awarded in the category of plastic arts, sculpture and installation, which deals with the myth of faith and the power of trust.

Since 2025, she has been teaching at the RWU University of Ravensburg-Weingarten, Faculty of Social Work, Health and Nursing, in the field of ‘Art as Protest’.

Solo exhibitions

  • 2026
    Invasion — Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen — Mannheim — Germany
  • 2025
    Paperbomb — PalaisPopulaire — Berlin — Germany
    Paperbomb — Zeughausgarten Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen — Mannheim — Germany
    Paperbomb — Martyr Village and Memory Center — Oradure-sur-Glane — France
  • 2024
    Paperbomb — Champ des Martyrs — Tulle — France
    Paperbomb — Zeughausgarten Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen — Mannheim — Germany
    Paperbomb — Hartmannswillerkopf — National Monument — France
    Paperbomb — Deutsche Bank Stuttgart — Germany
    Paperbomb — Hartmannswillerkopf, Crypt — France
  • 2023
    Transform — Altes Schloss — Germany
  • 2022
    Paperbomb — Paradiso St. Moritz — Switzerland
  • 2020
    Apokatastasis Ballaballa — Online
  • 2019
    Thepathi — Halle02 — Heidelberg — Germany
  • 2017
    Club Moritzino — La Villa — Italy
  • 2016
    MetaMorphose — Sinsheim — Germany

Group exhibitions

  • 2026
    Kunst gegen Missbrauch — Stadt Maintal — Germany
  • 2025
    Kunst gegen Missbrauch — RWU Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten — Germany
  • 2024
    Kunst gegen Missbrauch — Heidelberg — Germany
  • 2022
    Winner — DA! Art award — Düsseldorf — Germany
    Bullet-Ants — Metropolink Urban Art Festival — Heidelberg — Germany
  • 2021
    be**pART — Atelier Montez Rom — Italy
    Burn the Universa Performance — Germany
  • 2020
    Color, Shapes & Shadows — Van der Glas Gallery — New York — USA
    A visual culture — Van der Glas Gallery — New York — USA
    Imagine Vol. 2 — Kunstraum Dreieich — Germany
  • 2019
    Universa Ballaballa — Metropolink Urban Art Festival — Heidelberg — Germany
  • 2017
    Eluvio with Johannes Dachsel — Altes Schloss — Germany
    Thepathi Performance — Halle02 — Heidelberg — Germany
  • 2016
    Trienala Ladina — Museum Ladin Castle de Tor Sân Martin de Tor — Italy
    MetaMorphose — Sinsheim — Germany

Bio

  • 2018
    Master Degree in Design Illustration — FH Luzern Design — Switzerland
  • 2015
    Diploma in Design Illustration — Ruhr_akademie Schwerte — Germany

Press