Biennial

The 16th Lyon Biennale: manifesto of fragility

Moments like these, where the show drilled down on its complex resistance to heteronormativity (and thus paternalism), heightened the breakdown at Usines Fagor, with its abundance of large-scale installations that, while meaningful—as with Dana Awartani’s Standing by the Ruins of Aleppo (2021), a clay brick reproduction of the courtyard floor in Aleppo’s Grand Mosque—hinted at a curatorial anxiety to fill the site’s cavernous spaces.

Type:
Reviews
Source:
May 12, 2023
Credit:
Text / Stephanie Bailey

Simone Leigh: Sovereignty

“The work is a gateway, one that bridges extracted projections of African aesthetic realities by refocusing upon the origins of Black exterior expression. Those spaces—just like bodies—hold stories, memories, and dreams. The transformation of this pavilion foreshadowed how this experience would find me in a house of discourses. But this time, there could be a more nuanced conversation about the interiority of Black female consciousness.”

Type:
Reviews
Source:
Summer 2022
Location:
Venice, Italy
Credit:
Text / Mia Imani Harrison