“That Kenyan Pavilion is as phony as a three dollar bill.”
These are the words of Kenyan artist Michael Soi, criticizing the Kenyan pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale.
Public outrage
Protest has been building since news broke that just one Kenyan, Yvonne Apiyo Braendle-Amolo, has been chosen to represent the country at the fair this May. She stands alongside one Italian and six Chinese artists, none of whom have ever lived or worked in Kenya.
Commissioned by Paola Poponi, who publicly defended her decision just two weeks ago, the pavilion is also being organized by two foreign curators, Sandro Orlandi Stagl and Ding Xuefen.
However, Kenyan artist Michael Soi has responded to the uproar with a series of satirical paintings showing Kenyan artists outnumbered by Chinese ones, and told The Guardian, “Kenya has a lot of great contemporary artists who can represent Kenya...The likes of Wangechi Mutu, Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga, Peterson Kamwathi, Paul Onditi, Richard Kimathi, Jimmy Ogonga, Jim Chuchu...I could go on and on.”
The government speaks up
Hassan Wario, Kenya’s minister of culture, sports and the arts, failed to attend a meeting with a group of outraged artists on March 20, and was criticized by expat Frank Whalley in The East African, for his actions; “(Wario)...may like to consider whether this farce does Kenya justice or turns the country as well as the festival organizers into laughing stocks.”
However, at a press conference on April 14, he insisted that “the government of Kenya dissociates itself with this group and strongly condemns their acts of impersonation.” His office is investigating how this happened to ensure “no such misrepresentation of Kenyan artists occurs in the future,” and Wario expressed his personal intention to select a committee and curator for the 2017 Biennale.
