Opening April 23, Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence is hosted at Fondazione Giorgio Cini as a Collateral Event of the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. For this new body of work, Wiley sheds light on the brutalities of American and global colonial pasts using the language of the fallen hero.
The exhibition will include a collection of new monumental paintings and sculptures depicting young Black men and women in positions of vulnerability that tell a story of survival and resilience, revealing the beauty that can emerge from the horrific. These poses, borrowed from Western European art historical sources, function as beautiful elegies echoing a central metaphor of youth and resilience and stand as monuments to endurance and perseverance in the face of savagery, incorporating a scale that pushes beyond the mere corporeal and into the realm of spiritual icons, of martyrs and saints.
The exhibition is curated by Christophe Leribault, President of the Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie, who organized “Kehinde Wiley: Lamentation”, Wiley’s first exhibition in France at the Petit Palais in 2016. Music credit @__niles @kehindewiley @kehindewiley @fondazionegcini @museeorsay @labiennale
