The Many Venices. A walk with Moulaye Niang

The program of The Many Venices ends in Murano with a guided walk led by artist and master glassmaker Moulaye Niang, exploring the places that marked his first steps in glassmaking and the dialogue between Senegalese and Venetian glassmaking traditions.

In his work, beads, colours, shapes and light become the elements of a personal language, in which the tradition of Venetian glass intertwines with themes from African culture and European elements.

At the heart of Murano’s glassmaking tradition, Niang will retrace his own history on the island, recounting how Venice became part of his artistic universe and exploring the history of glass from a perspective shaped by migration, belonging and cultural exchange.

The program is supported by Venezia Football Club as Community Partner.

In 2004, after completing his studies at the Murano Glass School, Moulaye Niang immediately launched his business and became known as the Muranero. Each of his lamp glass creations is a fusion of his African roots, a European background and the atmosphere of Venice. Moulaye makes jewellery pieces and accessories but also chandeliers, all of which are unique in style and design. The measure of everything is the bead, which holds centre stage and brings unlikely shapes and colours together. In Venice he finds a playing field for lampworking, a form of craftsmanship with close-knit ties to a glassmaking tradition spanning a thousand years. And this is the reason why Moulaye devotes so much energy to passing on the knowledge acquired from his teachers, Pino Signoretto and Davide Salvadore. He also teaches his craft in Senegal, in projects dedicated to teaching a profession to orphaned children.