Werewere Liking on Five Decades of Mediumship and Evolution at Venice Biennale 2026
Artist Werewere Liking, originally from Cameroon and Ivory Coast, recently spoke with ART AFRICA about her role in Koyo Kouoh's exhibition 'In Minor Keys,' set for the 61st International Art Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia in 2026. Liking reflects on her nearly fifty-year artistic journey encapsulated in the 'Genealogies of Lights' series, emphasizing the theme of 'mediumship.' She discusses the convergence of different art forms and the interaction between artworks and their audience. Additionally, Liking is working on 'The Time of the Child's Dreams: Invisible Architectures,' alongside collaborators Ernest Duku, Souleymane Keïta, and several emerging talents.
Key facts
- Werewere Liking is a Cameroonian-Ivorian artist.
- Her work is presented in 'In Minor Keys' curated by Koyo Kouoh.
- 'In Minor Keys' is the central exhibition of the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026.
- The exhibition features nearly fifty years of paintings and sculptures from the 'Genealogies of Lights' series.
- Liking describes her artistic process as one of 'mediumship'.
- She connects painting, sculpture, literature, and performance as inseparable.
- Liking uses found materials and transforms them into ancestral figures.
- Women in Bassa cosmology are chosen by divinity Um to reveal transformative power through the 'curved cane'.
- Koyo Kouoh's curatorial vision refuses to exclude 'minor keys' from African art.
- Liking is also in a group exhibition 'The Time of the Child's Dreams: Invisible Architectures' curated by Herman Ékra and Galerie Cécile Fakhoury.
Entities
Artists
- Werewere Liking
- Koyo Kouoh
- Herman Ékra
- Ernest Duku
- Souleymane Keïta
Institutions
- ART AFRICA
- La Biennale di Venezia
- Galerie Cécile Fakhoury
Locations
- Venice
- Italy