After her forthcoming French Pavilion for the Venice Biennale was denounced by a prominent Jewish group, artist Yto Barrada appeared to address the controversy, saying that the pavilion’s organizers knew about her views on Israel when they selected her.
Barrada, who was born in Paris and is of Moroccan descent, was among the more than 200 artists who signed an open letter to the Biennale calling for the ejection of Israel from the show. Organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance, the letter states that “Israeli violence also targets the art and culture supposedly held sacrosanct by the Biennale,” and that such violence represents “an attempted annihilation of not just the Palestinian people but Palestinian culture.”
Representatives for national pavilions organized by countries ranging from Brazil to Qatar also signed the letter, as did nearly a third of the 111 artists participating in the main exhibition, organized by Koyo Kouoh. Two of the curatorial advisers appointed by Kouoh to help create the show also signed the ANGA letter.
On Tuesday, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), one of the most high-profile Jewish organizations in France, appeared to call on the French government to force Barrada into removing her name from the ANGA letter. The organization, an umbrella group that includes a range of Jewish institutions in France, then accused Barrada of “abusively” utilizing French governmental agencies for her cause.
“By signing this petition, Yto Barrada betrays the mandate given by France – which fortunately does not support the boycott of Israel – and turns her back on the universality of her culture,” the group wrote in a statement posted to social media. “By committing to hold an institutional role representing France, Yto Barrada must respect basic rules and practices such as the imperative of neutrality and the duty of reserve.”
According to Le Figaro, the French ministry of foreign affairs has no plans to make Barrada remove her name from the ANGA letter.
A representative for the Institut français, which organizes the French Pavilion, confirmed that the exhibition will go on as planned. “As with all national pavilions, the project is presented within a framework that respects artistic freedom,” the institute said in a statement. “The Pavilion is not affected, at this stage, by external statements or positions taken in other contexts.”
The institute added, “The personal positions expressed by the artist in other forums are her own and do not represent the position of the French government.”
The CRIF statement came the day before Barrada announced more details about her pavilion, which will open to the public alongside all the other Biennale festivities on May 9. According to a Le Monde profile published on Wednesday, the pavilion will be titled “Like Saturn” and will be centered around a large-scale textile made using the devoré technique, in which velvet’s fibers are burned away using acid to reveal the material underneath.
Though she did not explicitly mention the CRIF statement in the Le Monde profile, Barrada appeared to obliquely respond to it by noting that her opinions on Israel and Palestine are well-known. Le Monde also noted that Barrada lived in East Jerusalem during the ’90s, working as a freelance photographer. (The portion of the Le Monde article featuring Barrada discussing Israel is missing from the online version of the article that was posted by the publication, but one of the artist’s family members posted the full piece to Facebook.)
“I believe I was chosen with full awareness of my stance,” Barrada told Le Monde. “Currently, it is far more difficult to be in Southern Lebanon or Ramallah than it is to be here and face minor inconveniences regarding one’s political opinions. I am devastated—every single day. And I am appalled by the leaden silence in the press.”
Barrada declined to comment further to ARTnews.
The denouncement of Barrada by CRIF recalls a similar controversy that preceded France’s participation in the 2022 Venice Biennale. For that edition, France chose Zineb Sedira, a Paris-born artist of Algerian descent. In 2020, Sedira was accused by prominent pro-Israel figures of supporting Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, a pro-Palestine movement that has polarized politicians in some European nations. Sedira denied supporting BDS and called the allegations “unfounded and slanderous.” Her pavilion went on as planned and received acclaim.
