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Alberta Whittle announced for Scotland + Venice 2022

By Neil Cooper, 03.12.2020
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Alberta Whittle. Image: Matthew A. Williams

Alberta Whittle is announced today as Scotland’s official representation at the 2022 La Biennale di Venezia. Whittle’s Glasgow International curated exhibition is set to take place at the Arsenale Docks, S. Pietro di Castello as part of the 59th Venice Biennale.

The announcement by Creative Scotland on behalf of the National Lottery and Scottish Government backed Scotland + Venice partnership comes at the end of a remarkable year for the Glasgow based artist. During 2020, Whittle was one of ten artists to be awarded a Turner Bursary. The Glasgow School of Art graduate also received this year’s Frieze Artist Award and a Henry Moore Artist Foundation Award.

Born in Barbados in 1980, Whittle’s work in film, sculpture, print, performance and installation is often made in response to current events, and frequently draws on her research into the African diaspora and the decolonisation of Western histories.

Whittle’s work has been shown in group and solo shows around the world. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Margaret Tait Award, and in 2019 Dundee Contemporary Arts hosted How Flexible Can We Make the Mouth, Whittle’s first solo show in a major UK exhibition. This was followed at the end of 2019 by Transparency, a two-person show with Hardeep Pandal at Edinburgh Printmakers. 2021 will see Whittle show work at British Art Show 9, Liverpool Biennial and Glasgow International amongst other events.

Whittle is the tenth Scotland + Venice representation, and follows Charlotte Prodger in 2019 and Rachel Maclean in 2017. Her work was previously seen in Venice in 2015 as part of the Johannesburg Pavilion. 

Of today’s announcement, Whittle said: “After living in Scotland for nearly all of my adult life, I was thrilled to hear the news that I would be representing the country at the Venice Biennale. With so many urgent conversations on health, grief, refusal, race and healing at the forefront of my mind, now is the moment to ask questions about how we can unlearn and be more actively reflective on a personal level as well as collectively.  I’m looking forward to using this opportunity to develop new work in these charged times.”  

More info can be found www.scotlandandvenice.com & www.albertawhittle.com