Victoria Zidaru (b. 1956, Liteni, Romania) is one of the most important Romanian women artists of her generation, renowned for her immersive installations and multisensory approach to contemporary art. Her practice encompasses installations, performances, and collaborations with choreographers, musicians, and filmmakers, often engaging vulnerable communities. Over four decades, she has developed a distinctive visual language that integrates plants, weaving techniques, scents, inscribed words, and ritualistic practices to explore the symbolic dialogue between the individual, nature, and community. The importance of her practice in decolonial terms is deeply grounded in local materials, rituals and vernacular craft carried by rural women’s craft work. Her symbolic lexicon draws from Hildegard von Bingen’s notion of viriditas, the greening force of divine vitality, manifest in vegetal materials, tactile making, chant, and woven text. Recent projects include Refacerea (2025–2026) at Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest; Victoria Zilei (2024–2025) at MARE Museum, Bucharest; Lingua Ignota (2024) at the Istituto della Pietà and Archivi della Misericordia, Venice; Ziua Întâi (2023–2024) at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest; Felix Anima (2022) at Palazzo Ca’ Da Mosto, Venice; and Hortus Deliciarum 3 (2019) at the Romanian Cultural Institute, Venice. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Romania, Italy, and Europe, including Venice, Vienna, Timișoara, and Seoul.
