Repatriates Collective's 'Tide of Returns' exhibition opens at Ocean Space in Venice's former San Lorenzo church

Ocean Space presents 'Tide of Returns' in 2026, curated by Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll and featuring the transnational Repatriates Collective. The exhibition occupies the former Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Venice, with the west nave transformed by sand dunes and thousands of decorated shell dolls called Dadikwakwa-kwa by the Anindilyakwa Aboriginal people of Grote Eylandt, an island north of Australia. This installation, titled 'From My Mother's Country,' symbolizes community resilience and collective rituals. In the east nave, German-Bolivian artist Verena Melgarejo Weinandt presents the tripartite installation 'Weaving Connections,' combining video, textiles, and black braids to explore care processes and water's continuity. The show addresses cultural artifact repatriation and decolonization, commissioned and produced by TBA21–Academy. A parallel research room titled 'Nature Speaks. Ascoltare i Diritti della Natura a Venezia e in Europa' is co-produced by TBA21–Academy, NICHE Centre for Environmental Humanities, Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia, IDRA, and the Confluence of European Water Bodies, promoting legal personality for natural entities. The public program engages the Venetian community with dossiers on local biodiversity. Photographer Jacopo Salvi documented the exhibition.