Each Venice Biennale brings with it the debut pavilions of nations who’ve never before shown at the world’s biggest art exhibition, and these are typically causes for celebration. But in the run-up to the show’s opening in May, the inaugural Somali Pavilion has instead become a source of controversy, with artists from the country saying the organizers “neither meaningfully consulted nor included” representatives of the Somali art scene.
In an extended statement posted on Monday, the Mogadishu-based Somali Arts Foundation criticized the show for failing to include artists who are based in Somalia.
As the foundation pointed out, all three of the artists included—Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama, and Warsan Shire—have ties to Somalia, but they all work outside the nation. Farah is based in Stockholm, Jama is based in Bristol, and Shire is based in London. Farah and Jama were born in Somalia, while Shire is of Somalian descent and was born in Kenya.
The pavilion is titled “SADDEXLEEY,” a reference to a form of Somali poetry, and is being jointly curated by Mohamed Mire, curator at the Fotografiska photography museum in Stockholm, and Fabio Scrivanti, a Venice-based project manager. Abdirahman Yusuf is the pavilion’s commissioner.
The Somali Art Foundation statement called the pavilion a “private opportunity” and questioned how it was funded. “This pavilion does not speak for us,” the statement said.
“The art sector in Somalia has been rebuilt through the commitment of artists, cultural workers, independent institutions, collectives, and organisers working under extraordinarily difficult conditions, often with little to no institutional support and almost no budgetary backing from the government,” the foundation said. “It is therefore extremely disappointing that when such a visible opportunity for cultural representation emerged, those who have helped keep artistic life alive in Somalia were sidelined.”
The statement was signed by nine Somali-based artists, including poet and photographer Bushra Mohamed, artist Shamso Mohamed Jeylaani, and writer and filmmaker Ifraax Aden, among others.
The pavilion’s organizers did not immediately respond to ARTnews’s request for comment.
One artist also issued her own statement, saying she declined Mire’s invitation to participate in the pavilion.
Somali-born, New York–based poet and filmmaker Ladan Osman said on Instagram that she chose not to take part in the pavilion because of the organizers’ “refusal to meaningfully engage with Somali curators, artists, and cultural producers who made two reasonable demands: to center Somali artists, and to remove Fabio Scrivanti as a co-curator out of respect for the colonial violences we have survived.” Though Osman did not detail that violence, she was likely referring to Italy’s colonization of Somalia during the late 19th century and much of the first half of the 20th century.
Osman also said she had declined the invitation because Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and the show’s administration “persist in erasing Palestine, normalizing genocide, violating Koyo Kouoh’s curatorial vision by relocating the Israeli Pavilion.” She also mentioned the controversy surrounding Gabrielle Goliath, who was selected to represent South Africa with a work that addressed Israel’s war in Gaza before the opportunity was pulled from her. Osman called that turnabout “abhorrent.” (Goliath’s planned presentation will instead be staged at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin, while the South African Pavilion will remain empty.)
Osman’s statement mentioned a letter by the Art Not Genocide Alliance, which called for the Biennale to ban Israel from participating this year. Dozens of artists in Kouoh’s main exhibition, as well as others representing their respective nations, signed that letter. The Biennale has claimed it cannot eject countries recognized as nations in Italy.
The controversy over the Somali Pavilion loosely recalls others that have embroiled African nations represented at the Biennale. In 2022, for example, Namibia’s Biennale debut was criticized for being organized by an Italian curator and for failing to engage with the Namibian art scene. “We feel Namibia is not being represented at the pavilion,” one unnamed artist told Artnet News. Just a week before it was to go on view, the pavilion was unexpectedly canceled.
Unlike the Namibian Pavilion, however, the Somali Pavilion is being supported by its nation’s government. “This reflects Somalia’s growing presence on international platforms,” said Somali culture minister Daud Aweis in March, when the pavilion was announced.
