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 (*1990) is a German/Italian artist.

Her art reflects the interweaving of current social and political discourses and the way in which they influence social interaction. Nezilla's work is shaped by overarching aspects of human perception and structural mechanisms, the consequences of which are presented not only as physical confrontation, but also as a struggle for the sovereignty of interpretation in public perception.

By using strong symbols and suggestive images, Nezilla challenges the viewer to question their own ideas of truth and power. The messages of her works are never one-dimensional or didactic. Her works evoke complex emotional reactions and confront the viewer with their own prejudices and beliefs.

Her sculpture PAPERBOMB reflects the fragility of peace and the need to preserve it. The placement in historically burdened places in France makes it a memorial against forgetting and a symbol of peace and friendship at the same time. Fragile and threatening, the PAPERBOMB creates the basis for a profound socio-political discourse and warns the viewer to issue the consequences of their own actions.

Nezilla is one of the winners of the DA! Art Award 2022 – Düsseldorf’s secular art prize, which promotes critical artistic engagement with religion and irrationalism – and was appointed as a jury member in 2024. Her award-winning work "Trust" (category: Sculpture and Installation) explores the myth of faith and the power of trust.

Since 2025, she has been teaching at RWU Ravensburg-Weingarten University in the field of "Art as Protest".

Solo exhibitions

  • 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

  • 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