South African artist’s tribute to Palestine ­— banned from Venice Biennale — to be shown outside main event

DUBAI: A performance artwork blocked from representing South Africa at the upcoming Venice Biennale over its allegedly “highly divisive” tribute to a Palestinian poet will now be shown at the global exhibition after all, The Guardian reported.

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s project, “Elegy,” will be presented as a video installation for three months from May 4 at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin in Venice’s Castello district, a venue near the Biennale’s main site but not officially part of the exhibition.

The South African pavilion will stay empty after the government declined to nominate a replacement for the show, which was abruptly cancelled in January.

Goliath said exhibiting the work in Venice was essential, warning that its cancellation set “a dangerous precedent,” coming “only as a result of (South African) culture minister Gayton McKenzie taking exception to certain aspects of the work and my refusal to change that.”

Originally conceived in 2015, “Elegy” is a ritual of mourning for women killed in acts of sexualised or racialised violence. It was first created to commemorate murdered South African student Ipeleng Christine Moholane.

The non-verbal performance features seven operatically trained female performers who emerge from a black background and sustain a single high note for as long as possible before retreating and being replaced.

The Venice installation also commemorates two Nama women killed by German colonial forces in the early 20th century, as well as Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed at the age of 32 in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza, in October 2023.

It is accompanied by a ghazal — an ancient Arabic poetic form — paying tribute to Abu Nada’s poem “I Grant You Refuge,” written 10 days before her death.

The war in Gaza is not otherwise central to the artwork, though a curatorial statement by Goliath references “a spectre of genocide” and mentions “thousands of women, children and civilians killed in Gaza.”

In a letter dated Dec. 22, 2025, McKenzie said the subject matter of the performance “is known to be highly divisive in nature and is related to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising.”

Last month, Goliath failed in a legal bid to overturn the cancellation, with a high court judge dismissing her application just hours before the Biennale’s submission deadline.