Michael Armitage Solo Exhibition at Palazzo Grassi in Venice from March 2026 to January 2027

Michael Armitage, a Kenyan-British visual artist born in Nairobi in 1984, will present a selection of his paintings at Palazzo Grassi in Venice from March 29, 2026, to January 10, 2027. His large-scale canvases, which have been featured in prominent international exhibitions and sought by prestigious art collections, draw from Africa's vast history, myths, and sacred rituals. Armitage's material, wounded, and suffering painting style aims to unmask widespread indifference. His work references European and Asian traditions while portraying pain and injustice with a mastery compared to Francisco Goya. The monumental painting 'Cella di detenzione' (2021) metaphorically addresses silent deaths at sea, an avoidable crime often downplayed by governments. The exhibition's context includes a discussion of 'compassion fatigue' raised by journalist Zenaira Bakhsh in Outlook India, analyzing how constant exposure to violent imagery leads to desensitization, echoing concerns from Susan Sontag's 2003 essay 'Regarding the Pain of Others'. Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuściński's 1998 reflection on Africa's immense diversity is also cited. Armitage's art emphasizes the dreamed, unspeakable, suffered, and achievable within real or subconscious territories, using song and myth to depict a daily, countercurrent dance of life.