{"id":396154,"date":"2025-09-29T16:28:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=396154"},"modified":"2025-09-29T16:28:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:28:52","slug":"arab-art-shines-at-sao-paulo-biennial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/arab-art-shines-at-sao-paulo-biennial\/","title":{"rendered":"Arab art shines at S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The 36th<\/sup> S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial runs until January 2026, featuring 125 artists, 17 of whom are Arab. All works aim to propose or respond to challenges around a common theme: humanity. Divided into six chapters exploring the earth, resistance, migrations, the rupture with traditional systems, and memory, among other topics, the Biennial offers a journey through what builds or deconstructs humanity. The reflection is inspired by the poem \u201cDa calma e do si\u00eancio\u201d [Of calm and silence] by Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Evaristo.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"S\u00e3o
S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial explores art in every space: The exhibition pavilion\u2019s ramp is designed by Moroccan artist Malika Agueznay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Moroccans Chaibia Talal (1929\u20132004), Farid Belkhaia (1934\u20132014), and Mohamed Melehi (1936\u20132020), whose works are featured in the exhibition, represent a movement considered post-colonial or decolonial in the North African country. Their abstract art questioned preconceived values and ideas shaped by the art of European colonizers in African countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chaibia Talal, in particular, faced scrutiny for being a woman. She married an older man at 13, had a child shortly after, and was widowed by 15. She began painting at 25, but it wasn\u2019t until she was 37 that her work gained recognition beyond Morocco, with the support of Melehi and Belkhaia, who championed her art and techniques. Her paintings depict images of children and women, but not in a conventional way: Talal, like her contemporaries also featured in the Biennial, worked within abstraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary to these artists, Moroccan Malika Agueznay also contributes works to the Biennial. One of them, the painting Le paradis sous les pas des m\u00e8res<\/em> (\u201cThe Paradise Under the Feet of Mothers\u201d), adorns the ramp leading to the building\u2019s first floor. There, her reinterpretation of natural elements\u2014a hallmark of her work\u2014comes to life on a large scale. In another area of the pavilion, nine paintings echo the artistic concept of her oeuvre. The same phrase, \u201cThe Paradise Under the Feet of Mothers,\u201d reappears, this time written in Arabic.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Chaibia
Chaibia Talal: Moroccan artist part of post-colonial movement in paintings exploring abstraction<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Another Arab artist featured in the Biennial, Hamedine Kane was born in Nouakchott, Mauritania, and lives between Paris, France, Brussels, Belgium, and Dakar, Senegal. The Senegalese city served as one of the inspirations for Le Ressources: Acte-#2<\/em> (\u201cResources: Act #2\u201d). On a pier-like structure, books, ropes, pieces of wood, and other materials were placed, referencing objects found at sea along both the Senegalese and Brazilian coasts\u2014two extremes of the South Atlantic Ocean. The installation is the result of an investigation into maritime exploitation and pollution, whose first act took place in Senegal. This stage of the work was developed in S\u00e3o Paulo and Salvador in collaboration with his partner Boris Raux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan is also represented at the Biennial, with paintings by Kamala Ibrahim Ishag. Although her works are related to each other, they are displayed across two separate spaces in the pavilion. The mysticism of African rituals, the condition of women in society, and communal spaces\u2014often associated with the feminine\u2014are central themes of the projects exhibited, such as the painting Faces<\/em>, in which people\u2019s faces are distorted using a technique reminiscent of surrealism.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The
The Biennial pavilion houses most of the works, which are also displayed at other locations featured in the program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the installation La valise oubli\u00e9e<\/em> (\u201cThe Forgotten Suitcase\u201d), Algerian French artist Kader Attia leads Biennial visitors into a dark room containing three suitcases filled with shards of mirror that reflect light across them. Each suitcase, for the artist, tells a personal story. In another space, viewers can watch a video showing documents, family photos, and memories that revisit the Algerian War (1954\u20131962), blending personal history with that of his country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arab presence at the S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial is also evident in other installations, paintings, and compositions\u2014in the textiles of Franco-Algerian Hamid Z\u00e9nati (1944\u20132022) and Amina Agueznay, and in the video installation by Palestinian artist Noor Abed, among others. The Biennial follows the curatorial concept of Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, alongside curators Anna Roberta Goetz, Thiago de Paula Souza, and Moroccan Alya Sebti, as well as curator-at-large Keyna Eleison and communications consultant Henriette Gallus. In addition to the pavilion in the Ibirapuera Park, other locations are included in the Biennial\u2019s program, which offers free admission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information and the schedule are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more<\/em>:
Moroccan artists, co-curator at S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>
Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>
Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>
Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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