The exhibition ReSignifications interprets the “Blackamoor” trope in Western culture. This tradition of decorative art emerged at the intersection of cross-cultural encounters shaped by centuries of migration, exchange, conquest, servitude, and exile. Our display will juxtapose selections of these ornamental images from the historic collections of New York University’s Villa La Pietra, with reinterpretations and counter-narratives of the Black body from a spectrum of contemporary artistic angles at Museo Bardini, Fondazione Biagiotti Progetto Arte, and Villa La Pietra. Present day photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, musicians, designers, choreographers, historians and cultural theorists will respond to artists and designers of yore, to probe the many meanings of ReSignifications, to infuse inert objects of art with voice and presence across the ages in this exhibition and its catalog.