July 23, 2022
03:03
Chosen by the British Council to represent the United Kingdom at the Venice Biennale, Sonia Boyce won the Golden Lion for the best national participation.
The flag of great britain is one of the most visited gardens in the 59th Venice Biennale. Intertwined voices attract the curiosity of visitors as soon as they go up the steps to enter this imposing building where, since 1909, one can discover the works that best represent the contemporary British artistic scene.
At the origin of the exhibition “Feeling her way”, a simple question: “How can you imagine freedom?”
This year, in a biennale that gives voice to artists who have hitherto remained in the shadows, it is Sonia Boyce to give his interpretation of the present. Of Afro-Caribbean origin, she is the first black woman to represent her country. She chose a sound installation to “tell, through sound, another version of the story”, that of five black british singers who may have played a role in our lives, but of which little is known.
Journey to Abbey Road
At the origin of the exhibition “Feeling her way”, a simple question: “How can you imagine freedom?” Brought together by the artist, Jacqui Dankworth, Poppy Ajudha, Tanita Tikaram and Sofia Jernberg playfully interact by improvising with their voices. From the first room, we enter the famous recording studios ofAbbey Road in London where three of them, guided by the jazz composer Errollyn Wallen, emit powerful vocalizations. “Imagine being lionesses!” she urges them.
© Marco Cappelletti
Seated on gilded stools, the spectator attends this jam session where the voice is the only protagonist. The chromatic filters which color each screen dispel Western prejudices regarding “the other”, while the geometric figures of the wallpaper which covers the five rooms refer to Lygia Clark, one of Boyce’s great sources of inspiration. This Brazilian artist expressed, through her abstract motifs, the optimistic perspective of a future of social equality.
Sonia Boyce is also a politically engaged figure, who has never stopped questioning the position of black art in mainstream culture. At the age of 60, she brings into the most important artistic manifestation in the world a part of history that was until then excluded, reminding us that “imagination is the first way to go”.
Feeling her way, at the British pavilion
