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Artists representing Africa in Venice's Arsenale Corderie at the 2024 Art Biennale
South Africa
Edoardo Daniele Villa (1915-2011)
Edoardo Daniele Villa Edoardo Daniele Villa was born in Italy, but ended his life in South Africa in Johannesburg.
The sculptor, who hails from Bergamo in Italy, was a member of the Amadlozi art collective, which encouraged people to think about their surroundings and to direct their creations in this direction.
An artistic orientation clearly influenced by Africa, which is reflected in the sculptures of Edoardo Daniele Villa where the verticality of the human silhouette is emphasised.
This is particularly true in his allegorical work of “Mother and Child” which is exhibited in the Ropeworks of the Arsenale in Venice, where geometric lines are used to emphasise the African style.
Villa's stay in South Africa in the 1960s enabled the artist to study the sculptures in Johannesburg's public and private collections of African art.
Nigeria
Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala (1948-2021)
Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala Several works by Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala are on display at the Venice Arsenale Corderie.
Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala was a Batik painter who painted on fabric using wax-based dyeing methods.
His works are not only artistic, but are also based on a Nigerian spirituality and cultural heritage that corresponds to the artist's origins.
The themes depicted include divinities, but also scenes of daily life, at work or at the market.
Susanne Wenger (1915-2009)
Susanne Wenger Susan Wenger is a sculptor and painter of Austrian origin, where she studied in Vienna from 1933 to 1935.
In the 1950s, she was initiated into the Yoruba cult.
This then prompted her to study the aesthetic elements of Yoruba religious rituals, including batik dyeing, wall paintings and religious sculptures.
The works presented at the Venice Biennale are pieces of fabric dyed and brought together to create works that represent the aesthetic principles of Yoruba worship.
Lebanon
Omar Mismar (1986)
Omar Mismar, Ahmad and Akram Protecting Hercules Omar Mismar started out in Beirut as a graphic designer before becoming an artist in the United States.
His works show the entanglement of art with politics and a form of aesthetics of disaster.
Among his works presented at the Corderie of the Arsenal in Venice, “Ahmad and Akram Protecting Hercules” and “Parting Scene” show the heroic actions of the guards of a Syrian archaeological museum to save endangered works.
“Fantastic Scene” shows the head of a predatory lion with its prey, an ox.
“Two Unidentified Lovers in a Mirror” refers to gay life in Lebanon by disfiguring the lovers' faces with pieces of mosaic.
Zimbabwe
Shalom Kufakwatenzi (1995)
Shalom Kufakwatenzi, Under the Sea Shalom Kufakwatenzi lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, and focuses on both photography and textile-based works.
The works he presents here “Under the Sea” and “Mubatanidzwa” show the ease with which he manages to transform pieces of fabric by sewing, stretching and folding them together.
Angola
Kiluanji Kia Henda (1979)
Kiluanji Kia Henda, The Geometric Ballad of Fear Kiluanji Kia Henda lives in Luanda, Angola, where he was born four years after the country's independence.
His work “The Geometric Ballad of Fear” consists of nine photographs featuring wrought-iron balcony railings typical of what can be found in houses in Angola.
They show the disparities between the country's populations.
The superimposition of the geometric patterns of the railings on the landscapes creates a graphic effect that is amplified by the assemblage of these nine photographs.
Corderie Africa | America | Brazil | Europe | New Zealand | Asia East
Arsenal Corderie | Benin | China | Lebanon | Senegal
2024 Map Address | Hours Tickets | Arsenal | Giardini | Artists | Countries
Biennale Art 2024 | 2022 | 2019 | 2017
Biennale Biennale Art | Architecture
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