Artists Criticize Somalia's First-Ever Venice Biennale Pavilion

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Somalia's first Venice Biennale pavilion was supposed to signal arrival. Instead, it has become a test case for who gets to define national representation on art's most visible stage.

The inaugural Somali Pavilion, titled“SADDEXLEEY,” has drawn criticism from the Mogadishu-based Somali Arts Foundation, which says the project was assembled without meaningful consultation with artists based in Somalia. In a statement signed by nine Somali-based artists, the foundation said the pavilion was presented as a“private opportunity” and questioned how it was financed. It argued that the artists and cultural workers who have sustained artistic life in Somalia under difficult conditions were sidelined.

The pavilion includes Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama, and Warsan Shire, all of whom have ties to Somalia but work outside the country. Farah is based in Stockholm, Jama in Bristol, and Shire in London. Farah and Jama were born in Somalia, while Shire is of Somali descent and was born in Kenya. The project is jointly curated by Mohamed Mire, a curator at Fotografiska in Stockholm, and Fabio Scrivanti, a Venice-based project manager. Abdirahman Yusuf is the commissioner.

The controversy widened after Somali-born, New York-based poet and filmmaker Ladan Osman said she declined an invitation to participate. Osman said the organizers refused to meaningfully engage Somali curators, artists, and cultural producers who asked to center Somali artists and to remove Scrivanti as co-curator. She also criticized Biennale leadership over Palestine-related decisions, including the relocation of the Israeli Pavilion, and called the handling of Gabrielle Goliath's withdrawn South African presentation“abhorrent.”

The Somali government supports the pavilion, and culture minister Daud Aweis has said it reflects Somalia's growing presence on international platforms. But the dispute underscores a familiar Biennale tension: when a nation debuts in Venice, the question is not only whether it is seen, but who is allowed to speak for it.

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