South Africa's Venice Biennale artist appeals to president after pavilion cancelled by minister

"Elegy, part of a series the artist began in 2015, is a ritual lament. In each version that is performed, seven operatically trained woman singers sing and sustain a B note for an hour. They line up behind a dais, begin the note and as their breath runs out, they pass the note on to the next person. Goliath tells The Art Newspaper that performances are a tribute to and commemoration of "women, femme and non-gender-conforming individuals from South Africa, who have been subject to fatal acts of sexualised and gendered violence"."

"When it was selected for the Biennale by a five-person independent panel consisting of respected members of the arts community, they described the work as addressing the "national disaster of femicide in South Africa". The version planned for the Biennale also addressed violence against women in Namibia and Gaza, and it was the new Gaza-related section that caused the controversy."

A right-wing sports, arts and culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, cancelled South Africa’s Venice Biennale pavilion eight days before the submission deadline, censoring Gabrielle Goliath’s three-part video project Elegy. Elegy is a ritual lament in which seven operatically trained women sustain a B note for an hour, passing breath and sound between performers as a commemoration of women, femme and non-gender-conforming individuals subject to sexualised and gendered violence. An independent five-person panel had selected the work, describing it as addressing the national disaster of femicide. The planned Biennale version included material addressing Namibia and Gaza; the Gaza-related section prompted the ministerial objection, and the artists have appealed to the president and foreign office for reinstatement.

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