Why the Spanish artist at the Venice Biennale is not from Spain
30 April 2024
The Peruvian artist Sandra Gamarra Heshiki (Lima, 1972) is currently representing Spain in the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2024. She's the first Latin American to represent the country at what is considered the largest contemporary art event in the world.
La Biennale, aka "The Olympics of Art", is a cultural institution which has been running for over 100 years (the first one opened in 1895). It's the place to be for countries trading in soft power through national pavilions.
This year’s theme is "Stranieri Ovunque" (Foreigners Everywhere). With that in mind, Gamarra transformed the Spanish Pavilion into a historical gallery of Western art, focusing on representations of racism, migration, and extractivism.
In her exhibition project "Pinacoteca Migrante" (Migrant Pinacoteca), the artist also reinterprets historical works by famous historical masters Velázquez, Murillo, and Zurbarán to reveal the colonial bias that hides the diverse Spanish heritage. Gamarra also questions the representational methods of the museum institution, traditionally considered as the narrators of the great universal stories.
 | Stefano de Marzo Spain has been trying to decolonise its museums in the last few years, not without furious critics from the most nostalgic and recalcitrant nationalists. At the same time, the country is changing demographically, as is the rest of Europe. According to data from 2021, 32% of newborns in Spain are children of foreign parents. 42% of these are from Latin America and 28% from Africa. The fact that Spain chose a Peruvian immigrant artist (who also has Japanese roots) is a sign of a change in how Spaniards think of themselves through identity and the arts. |
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