The Venice Biennale in pictures (part 1)

Dr Nick Gordon

The presence of First Nations artists at the Venice Biennale has been increasing over the past decade, but this year saw a far greater number take centre stage, alongside a greater representation of artists from the southern hemisphere and the global South. 

The USA, for example, is represented by Jeffrey Gibson, an artist of Cherokee descent, whose colourful work inside and outside the pavilion explores ideas of hybrid identities and access to democratic freedoms.

The Brazil Pavilion – the only other southern hemisphere nation represented in the Giardini, other than Australia – has been renamed this year: it is now the Hãhãwpuá Pavilion, which is the indigenous Pataxo people’s name for the land now known as Brazil. Inside, Glicéria Tupinambá, the first indigenous artist to represent her country, has crafted a selection of works using different traditional materials and techniques, including some extraordinary feather mantles. The first Brazilian mantle in a European museum was returned to the nation this year, after being removed in the seventeenth century.

You may have heard that Archie Moore, a Kamilaroi Bigambul artist representing Australia at the Venice Biennale this year, was awarded the highly prestigious Golden Lion for his monumental work, kith and kin, in the Australia Pavilion. It's an extraordinary achievement. The internal walls of the pavilion are painted with blackboard paint, on which Archie has hand drawn in chalk his genealogical tree, starting with himself and working back with archival records and then up to 60,000 years ago, through names and words associated with kinship. The text extends up all four walls of the pavilion and onto the ceiling, enclosing you within the space.

But, as you look more closely at this family tree, you see a point where names and words in language are replaced by English names and nicknames, derogatory terms, and regular interruptions where branches of the tree end. This representation of the historical impact of colonisation is reflected in the centre of the room, where 500 coronial inquests into Aboriginal deaths in custody appear to hover in a pool of reflection. The memorial is a powerful reminder that colonisation is ongoing.

To hear Archie speaking about the work, you can watch this short video from The Guardian.

Below and to the left are photos of kith and kin during the opening week of the Biennale, before the Golden Lion was awarded. Waiting times for the queues of art lovers wanting to enter the Australia Pavilion now take more than 45 minutes.

Archie was joined by two other Australian artists whose works were selected for the international exhibition. Wathaurung / Wadawarrung elder Marlene Gilson has several of her paintings on display that show scenes from Ballarat’s colonial history. The genre was historically devoid of Aboriginal people, helping to popularise the idea of the country as a terra nullius. Marlene’s paintings restore her people to art about the past, often with humour and depicting all sorts of past and contemporary pastimes/

The other Australian artist in the international exhibition is Yolŋu painter Naminapu Maymaru-White, whose works represents Milŋiyawuy, a concept at the heart of her clan's Maŋgalili songline.

In the Netherlands Pavilion, another surprise awaits. Here, the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise – a collective of Congolese workers who make sculptures from palm oil, cocoa husk and other plantation waste products – have displayed a large number of works, with a live feed back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These artworks reflect the historic role of slavery and exploitation in the development of Europe’s art and museum culture, while also drawing on a vast range of imagery and symbols, both local and imported together with Christianity.

The collective was selected to represent the Netherlands because the largest single palm plantation owner, Unilever, is a Dutch company. The money raised from the sale of the collective’s works is reinvested in their land.

One of the great strengths of this year’s Biennale is definitely its diversity of voices, and the way that openly political works do not sacrifice their aesthetic to convey their messages. In fact, the aesthetic qualities amplify the works’ meanings and allow them to be heard amongst all of the other art on display.

As in previous years, there is an extraordinary amount to see, with around 80 national pavilions, over 300 artists in the international exhibition, nearly 30 collateral exhibitions, and some major exhibitions held in Venice’s museums. The latter include retrospectives of Pierre Huygh, Willem de Kooning, and Julie Mehretu.

And of course, all of this takes place in the extraordinary setting of Venice, and its historic spaces.

Places remain on our tour to the Venice Biennale and International Film Festival in late August, led by Dr Nick Gordon.