‘Two extraordinary, pioneering women artists who are also migrants and who embody in many ways the spirit of Foreigners Everywhere’ stated the curator of the 60th Venice Biennale Adriano Pedrosa as he announced that the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement of the 2024 Venice Biennale will go to Italian-born Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino and the Paris-based Turkish artist Nil Yalter. Both artists will be participating at the Venice Biennale for the first time in 2024: Maiolino will present a new large-scale work in clay and Yalter will showcase a new reconfiguration of her installation Exile is a hard job.
Pedrosa, who selected the two artists for the award, said, ‘This decision is particularly meaningful given the title and framework of my exhibition, focused as it is on artists who have travelled and migrated between North and South, Europe and beyond, and vice versa. In this sense, my choice rests upon two extraordinary, pioneering women artists who are also migrants and who embody in many ways the spirit of Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere: Anna Maria Maiolino (Scalea, Italy, 1942, lives in São Paulo, Brazil), who migrated from Italy to South America, first to Venezuela and later to Brazil, where she lives today; Nil Yalter (Cairo, Egypt, 1938, lives in Paris, France), a Turkish who migrated from Cairo to Istanbul and finally to Paris, where she is based.’ The Awards Ceremony and inauguration will be held on Saturday 20 April 2024.
