Indigenous art wins at top show
Four Maori artists from New Zealand have won a Golden Lion top prize at the Venice Biennale, an international art show that happens every two years. The Maori are an indigenous group of people, meaning they are descended from the first people to live in New Zealand.
Their artwork was called Takapau, named after the finely woven mats that Maori people make for special events. Made by four women known as the Mataaho Collective, it was woven from trucking straps, which are used to keep heavy loads secure on the back of lorries. The unusual materials used in the artwork were chosen to represent the artists’ working-class backgrounds.
Another indigenous artist, Archie Moore from Australia, won a Golden Lion award too. His artwork, called Kith and Kin, included his family tree (a diagram detailing the history of family members), which he wrote in chalk on the walls of the Venice Biennale’s Australia gallery. It covered 65,000 years of indigenous Australian history. Artists from 88 countries showed work at the Biennale. However, Ruth Patir, the artist representing Israel, refuses to open her exhibition unless there is a ceasefire (pause in fighting) in the Israel-Gaza conflict and the Israeli hostages (people taken prisoner) are released. She said, “I prefer to raise my voice with those I stand with.”