Equatorial Guinea Pavilion Debuts at Venice Biennale with 'The Forest: The Undergrowth'

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea officially debuts its first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale Arte with 'The Forest: The Undergrowth', an exhibition project that transforms the undergrowth into a metaphor for the unconscious and the relationship between man and nature. The pavilion is installed at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose from May 9 to November 22, 2026. Curated by Joan Abelló, with a prestigious committee including Massimo Scaringella, the exhibition features Paraguayan artist Ingrid Seall, who presents 'Manar', a vertical installation made from cellulose, paper, iron, manioc, clay, beeswax, and organic residues. The work reflects on transformation, where discarded or forgotten elements regenerate into new living matter. The title 'Manar' evokes abundance and continuous flow, with a spiritual upward movement reconnecting humans to ancestral roots. Other artists include Alfred Mirashi Milot, who installs enigmatic 'keys' suggesting imaginary accesses, and photographer Michele Stanzione, who presents animated black-and-white masks suspended between ritual and vision. Seall, born in Asunción in 1975 and trained at the National University of Paraguay, works with bronze, ceramic, iron, and papier-mâché, exploring mutation of figure and matter, intertwining gesture, body, and collective memory.