Simone Leigh first black woman to represent the US at Venice Biennale
SCULPTOR Simone Leigh will make history as the first black woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale for art in 2022.
The Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston (ICA), in co-operation with the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, announced Leigh’s selection on Wednesday. The 53-year-old artist, who also works in video, will create a series of sculptures for the biennale that will be on view in the US Pavilion from April 23 to November 27, 2022.
The international art show is usually held in odd-numbered years, but was postponed from 2021 to 2022 because of the pandemic.
Leigh’s sculptures demand attention because of their size and subject matter, said ICA director Jill Medvedow, who is co-commissioner of the US Pavilion with ICA chief curator Eva Respini.
“She disrupts the historical narrative of over 400 years of United States history,” Medvedow said. “(Her work) has tremendous presence, magnificent presence. It occupies space that traditionally Black female bodies have not occupied. At this moment of overdue reckoning on race and justice, there is no one better to represent the United States.”
Leigh’s large-scale bronze sculpture “Brick House” is installed on the High Line in New York.
“To be the first Black American woman to occupy the American Pavilion for the 59th La Biennale di Venezia is a great honour,” Leigh said in a statement. “I acknowledge the paradox of my position during this time when the depth of White supremacy in America is in full view.
“I also recognise that this is a time when black artists and intellectuals of the diaspora are flourishing and have reached critical mass. My show, comprised primarily of sculpture, will engage the work of black feminist thinkers who have enlarged and transcended the limits of this democracy.”
Leigh’s selection comes as the ICA is organising the artist’s first mid-career survey exhibition, which is set to open in 2023. The exhibition is curated by Respini, and works from the biennale will be included. — Washington Post.