Over the last month, several open letters and statements have been published and signed by Somali artists, cultural workers and arts organisations expressing concern over the Somalia pavilion at the Venice Biennale for its lack of consultation of artists and organisations based in the country, and for the appointment of an Italian cocurator.
In March, the Federal Republic of Somalia announced that it would present its first national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The pavilion exhibition, titled SADDEXLEEY after the Somali triadic poetic form, includes Somali-Swedish artist Ayan Farah, Somali-Danish poet, filmmaker and artist Asmaa Jama, and Somali-British writer and poet Warsan Shire, and is curated by Stockholm-based Mohamed Mire and Italian project manager Fabio Scrivanti.
In April, the Somali Arts Foundation (SAF) issued a statement expressing ‘deep disappointment and concern’ with the pavilion, saying that what ‘should have been a meaningful act of national cultural representation, has instead been led and organised by Somali diaspora figures in collaboration with their European colleagues…while artists and arts organisations based in Somalia were neither meaningfully consulted nor included.’
Meanwhile, the Somali queer collective Warbixinta Cidda published a statement on social media expressing their discontent over the appointment of an Italian co-curator, given Italy’s colonial history in Somalia, and expressly demanding his removal. The post states that the demand was initially made privately to the organisers of the national pavilion but was made public due to a lack of response.
An anonymous open letter to the Somalia pavilion and its artists was then published citing both the statement from SAF and the post by Warbixinta Cidda. It also quotes a follow-up statement by SAF that alleges that ‘key figures associated with the leadership of the Somalia Pavilion, together with affiliates acting on their behalf in Somalia, are using intimidation, coercive pressure, and scare tactics against members of the coalition that released the recent public statement alongside SAD, as well as artists within our networks in Mogadishu’. The letter lists five demands, including the removal of Fabio Scrivanti as curator, and calls for a boycott of the pavilion should the demands not be met.
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