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Hsome consoles are not always good. Here to Venice BiennaleLubaina Himid paints a harsh, intense, unsettling picture of our ancient humid world. His large-scale art installation and wall of painted oars in a British courtyard filled with tailors and cooks and builders, the people who shape the country, keep it, dress it and protect it.
An audio track echoes through the air with the sounds of world life: birdsong, waterfowl, the chirping of trees, the chirping of birds and flies. Great Britain is so lovely, so welcoming and kind and accepting.
But isn’t it? The dark images at the heart of every painting do not seem to be accepted and accepted. She alternates sidelong glances while cooking and sewing; They rest during periods of discomfort. The tailors – wearing the clothes they have made, the clothes made to fit – are frozen and seem to be asking: “What are we doing here?”
Planners – standing next to plans for a mosque, a church and a factory – do the same. So are the Two farmers, and the sailors. Himid asks again and again, if you can really live, if somewhere you can be your home if your roots are somewhere.
The show is based around 26 questions that are posted on the wall, such as: “Can flies live here?” and “Can poison taste good?” It’s the kind of soft, philosophical music that artists think sounds serious, but doesn’t. The answer to both, obviously, is yes. However, these questions revealed the focus of the show, the idea that if you’re different, you won’t feel like a part of anything.
The basis of that idea seems to be that feeling empty is only for people from elsewhere. But is it really true? The show is mainly about immigration and how people feel, the culture of immigrants in Britain, but living with them is much more difficult than the show wants to believe. It’s not just about immigration or race. It’s about gender, sexuality, class; it’s about social discomfort, social instability. Millions of people in Britain feel unimportant.
Obviously, I don’t think this is Himid’s best work: he’s done very well in the past. I will add that an exhibition of art by one of Britain’s leading and most popular artists is not the most interesting thing that could have been done by the pavilion.
But what he does the work here is the idea of anxiety that studies through the priesthood, the feeling of discomfort and disappointment in the world that will not accept you fully. Despite all the bright colors, despite the gentle sound of the waves rushing and the birds chirping, Himid sees a dark truth about Britain: it may be green and fun, but for most people, it won’t feel like home.
