Somalia’s Pavilion Sparks Debate

Somalia’s first national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale is opening under dispute, with Somali artists saying the project did not adequately include the country’s own art scene. (artnews.com) The pavilion, titled SADDEXLEEY, is scheduled to open to the public in Venice on May 9 and run through November 22 at Palazzo Caboto, during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The Biennale said the 2026 edition will include 100 national participations. (labiennale.org) The Somalia Pavilion site says the exhibition brings together Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama, and Warsan Shire. ARTnews reported that all three have Somali ties but are based outside Somalia: Farah in Stockholm, Jama in Bristol, and Shire in London. (somaliapavilion.so) That lineup became the center of the criticism. ARTnews reported that a statement issued Monday by Somali Arts Foundation and other Somali art spaces said the organizers had “neither meaningfully consulted nor included” representatives of the Somali art scene and had not included artists based in Somalia. (chaukasmaal.com) The same statement, as described by ARTnews, called the pavilion a “private opportunity,” questioned how it was funded, and said, “This pavilion does not speak for us.” The report said nine Somalia-based artists signed on, including Bushra Mohamed, Shamso Mohamed Jeylaani, and Ifraax Aden. (chaukasmaal.com) The organizers present the project differently. The pavilion website calls Somalia’s participation “a significant cultural moment” and says the exhibition uses installation, sound, and material practice to present “Somali perspectives” on memory, place, and transformation. (somaliapavilion.so) The structure of the show is also part of the pitch. A press release for the pavilion says SADDEXLEEY refers to a Somali poetic form and that the exhibition is organized around a triadic format with three women artists and three expressive registers. (somaliapavilion.so) ARTnews reported that the pavilion is jointly curated by Mohamed Mire, a curator at Fotografiska in Stockholm, and Venice-based project manager Fabio Scrivanti, with Abdirahman Yusuf serving as commissioner. The pavilion website lists governance and organizers but does not, in the material surfaced here, answer the funding questions raised by critics. (artnews.com) The dispute widened when Somali-born, New York-based poet and filmmaker Ladan Osman said she had declined an invitation to participate. According to ARTnews, Osman said the organizers refused requests “to center Somali artists” and to remove Scrivanti as co-curator “out of respect for the colonial violences we have survived.” (chaukasmaal.com) National pavilions are the Biennale’s country-by-country exhibitions, and they often become arguments over who gets to represent a nation as much as exhibitions of art. In 2026, those questions are landing on Somalia just weeks before its first pavilion opens in Venice. (labiennale.org)