Diversity of language and creative expression brought about by the Biennale help us understand the historical and socio-cultural coordinates of the several home countries of participating artists, their origins and their identities. It seems apparent that artists are the ones who will shape the future, thanks to their ability to anticipate and visualize the most urgent themes. For an independent exhibition like Personal Structures, giving a voice to international, young, and out-of-the-mainstream artists is paramount. Personal Structures is a workshop of ideas and creative thought that involves artists and galleries, and their current exhibition, called Reflections, is the thread that keeps it all together, effectively creating a mirror of our times.

Examples of the same would be the manifesto exhibitions and galleries at Palazzo Bembo, which focus on African American issues. Galerie Myrtis was established in Baltimore in 2006 and specializes in modern African American culture. Myrtis uses visual arts to portray the cultural, social, historical, and political worries of black Americans. The Afro-Futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined, curated by the gallery’s founder Myrtis Bedolla, is a collection of 30 pieces by emerging artists.

Destinee Ross-Sutton (Harlem, New York) presents Blue Moon, Khari Turner’s (1991, Milwaukee, USA) first international solo exhibition. In his paintings, Turner defines an unusual narrative of being black in the world.

An exhibition by artist Shanequa Gay is a work on ritual and personal memory, on narration, fantasy, and the deep roots of black Americans living in the South. Her art materializes counter-narrations, mythology, and the expansion of black imagery using installation, painting, performance art, video, and sculpture.

Featured image: Khari Turner – Destinee Ross-Sutton Gallery, Blue Moon, 2022. Ph. Federico Vespignani