Traces. On the Body and on the Land.

Panama’s inaugural national pavilion at the

60. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte de La Biennale di Venezia

Mirages of the Gap

The artwork Mirages of the Gap provides a metaphorical exploration of the journey migrants make through the thick and roadless rainforest known as the Darien Gap. Based on two large abstract structures in which paint and pigment have been replaced by layers of mud, the rough textures of the multicolored soil that the artist gathered in situ symbolize the arduousness of the earthy trails that human beings have carved through the jungle.

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The structures converge on a central white wedge an ascending triangle suggestive of a passageway with an unknown climax. The work emerges as an expression of awareness regarding both the collective journey and an individual sense of yearning, offering a visual and poetic testament to courage, resilience, and hope, encapsulating encapsulating the essence of the human struggle for a better future and a more dignified way of life. the essence of the human struggle for a better future and a more dignified way of life.

Todo lo que es noble y verdadero

The massive migration of Afro-Caribbean men and women in the early twentieth century for the construction of the Panama Canal brought about a profound transformation in Panama and its demographic makeup. The migratory waves not only etched an enduring mark on the nation’s history and but also exerted a significant influence on its cultural diversity. For those who dared to venture and relocate, the migrating body became a repository of chronicles and memories, while the individuals themselves grappled with the challenge of deciding 

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what to carry along and what to leave behind. The central question evolves into a poignant dilemma: how to reconcile the desire to preserve one’s identity with the pressing need to assimilate for survival? Through collage, De Dier meticulously assembles archival material, family documents, and oral histories, weaving them into new narratives that illuminate the migrant experience.

Selva

Inside the installation entitled “Selva”, visitors find themselves surrounded by a series of monumental drawings. With loose and expressive strokes, De Obaldía offers an immersion into the jungle known as the “Darien Gap.” Roots surrounded by ferns, palms intertwined with vines, rivers, and waterfalls, confront the observer directly Glass sculptures display dramatic colors and shapes with carved and richly textured surfacesy de ricas texturas that generate luminous effects.

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Some evoke vegetation, while others resemble wounded, mistreated, or trapped human beings. The auditory component of the installation envelops the viewers with sounds of animals, water, wind, , as well as footsteps and human voices.


Obras seleccionadas

The oceans and jungles in Brooke Alfaro’s paintings do not depict sublime seascapes nor peaceful rainforests. Rather, they are the scenarios of great human dramas where vulnerable individuals, often in large groups, in various types of boats or surrounded by wilderness, confront an aggressive and dangerous natural world. Although the compositions stem from his imagination, the pervasive sense of tragedy reminds us of the rafts full of migrants from the Mediterranean or in the Darien 

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that we see in the news today. Alfaro began painting these ominous scenes in the nineties, long before the news about migration through Panama reported the current human crisis of epic proportions.

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The Panama Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Art Biennale arises as a profound reflection on the enduring traces that migration leaves on individuals and their surroundings. Entitled “Traces: On the Body and on the Land,” this exhibition echoes the current migration crisis with a particular focus on the Panamanian context, interpreted by four artists through drawings, paintings, collages, glass sculptures, and installations

La Biennale di Venezia

The 60th edition of the The Venice Biennale will inaugurate in April 2024 and run for eightmonths, during which more that 800,000 people will visit the different pavilions.

 

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An event without precedent

For the first time ever, there will be a Panama Pavilion at the prestigious Venice Art Biennale. This unique opportunity features four outstanding Panamanian artists who epitomize the best of our contemporary art. 

It is an exceptional opportunity  for Panama to present itself on the most famous international  renowned at the level of art and culture to showcase the best of our country, opening doors for many talents not only in the arts but in the disciplines that study, teach and promote it. 

Commissioner

Itzela Quirós
Assistant Manager
National Direction of Cultural Heritage

Itzela Quirós is a Professor of History of Art and Architecture. She received her BS in Architecture with an emphasis on built heritage intervention and an MA in Preservation Projects Management from Politecnico di Milano. She is a PhD candidate in Architecture at the National University of Colombia. Since 2009 she is active as a preservation Architect for the Ministry of Culture of Panama and has been appointed National Deputy Director of Cultural Heritage and National Director of Museums

Curatorial Committee

The pavilion was initially proposed by Ana Elizabeth González to the Venice Biennale. After being accepted and receiving a formal invitation, she invited Mónica Kupfer and Luz Bonadíes, to join her in the curatorial committee for the Panama Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

Mónica Kupfer, Ph.D.
Curator and Director
Art and Culture Foundation of Panama
Ana Elizabeth González
Executive Director and Chief Curator
Panama Canal Museum
Luz Bonadies
Communications and Culture Manager
City of Knowledge Foundation Panama

Our Artists

Brooke Alfaro
Panamanian, 1949
Isabel De Obaldía
Panamanian born in Washington, D.C., 1957
Cisco Merel
Panamanian, 1981
Giana De Dier
Panamanian, 1980

Team

Mariana Nuñez Haugland
Communication and Graphic Direction
Mirielle Robles
Exhibition team
Román Flórez
Exhibition team

Pavilion Location

Contact

Contact information

General Information

Jeffry Barboza | jbarboza@museodelcanal.com |+507 211-1649 ext. 201

Press

Tatiana Álvarez | talvarez@museodelcanal.com
+507 211-1649 ext. 309 | +507 66605816

Descarga Media Kit en Español
Download Media Kit
Donations

Anna Elena González | annagonzalez@museodelcanal.com

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Mónica Kupfer, ph.D.
Curator and Director
Art and Culture Foundation of Panama

Mónica Kupfer is an art historian, exhibition curator and art critic. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History with a focus on Latin American art. She was the first curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama and founding director of the Panama Art Biennial, an event held from 1992 to 2008. Since 1999, she has directed the Fundación Arte & Cultura, which promotes Panamanian art locally and internationally.

Kupfer has distinguished herself as an author and editor, as well as speaker and judge in contemporary art events.

Ana Elizabeth González
Executive Director and Chief Curator
Panama Canal Museum

Ana Elizabeth González has been the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Panama Canal Museum since 2020. She holds bachelor's degrees in Archaeology and Business Administration, as well as master's degrees in International Cultural Relations and Curatorial Studies.

González previously worked as the Cultural Attaché of Panama in the U.K. and as Program Manager of the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE contemporary art gallery and historical museum.She also served as Executive Director of the FAOU Foundation for Japanese artist Mariko Mori.

Luz Bonadies
Communications and Culture Manager
City of Knowledge Foundation Panama

Luz Bonadies is the Communications and Marketing Manager of the City of Knowledge Foundation. From 2017 to 2020, she was the Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, where she led a radical transformation of the institution. She has studies in Journalism, Social Communication and Marketing, as well as specializations in Project Management and Design Thinking for Innovation.

She was Director of Magazines at Grupo Epasa and National Director of Publications at the National Institute of Culture. She has excelled as a specialist in projects related to sustainable development and cultural management.

Brooke Alfaro
Panameño, 1957

Brooke Alfaro, One of Panama’s most prominent artists, Brooke Alfaro became known initially for his images of lifelike figures painted in a surrealist and irreverent tone, in works created with admirable academic skills

He had his first solo exhibition in 1979, which has been followed by countless exhibitions both in Panama and abroad. By 1990, his paintings --which often mocked religious or political themes-- became populated with agglomerations of human figures, usually in crammed boats, at sea, in jungles or other natural, often threatening, environments.

From the beginning of this century, Alfaro expanded his artistic endeavors to include the production of video works, which earned him multiple awards, including the first prize in the First Latin American Video Art Competition in Washington, D.C. in 2003. In addition to being an artist, Brooke Alfaro is a social and environmental activist, focusing primarily on education and ecology.

Isabel De Obaldía
Panamanian born in Washington, D.C., 1957

Although she was initially trained in graphic design and cinematography, the much-admired Panamanian artist Isabel De Obaldía is known for her drawings, paintings, sculptures, and videos. She has exhibited over four decades in numerous solo exhibitions and group shows in Panama, Europe, and the United States.

In 1989, a time of political turmoil in Panama, she created memorable works of protests against the dictatorship. In the 90s, she discovered the practice of glass sculpture, a medium in which she has achieved recognition for her extraordinary large-scale pieces, usually of male figures, wild animals, torsos, and heads. She has been exhibiting with the Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art Fine Art Gallery in New York since 1997, and recently, in 2022, she was invited to the 58th Carnegie International, the world's second-oldest biennial. In both her two-dimensional and glass works De Obaldía expresses a remarkable concern for the natural world, as well as for human beings and their often-difficult sociopolitical circumstances.

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Cisco Merel
Panamanian, 1981

Cisco Merel's work reveals an interpretation of themes such as popular art, architecture, and social contrasts, in striking installations and abstract paintings of geometric shapes and intense colors, which he produces with the incorporation of clay, pigments and stainless steel. He studied Fine Arts in Panama and in international workshops and residencies in New York, Paris, and Leipzig. For more than ten years, he collaborated with the Carlos Cruz Diez Workshop in Panama City.

He has presented more than fifteen solo exhibitions in Panama and abroad since 2005. Merel creates paintings and sculptures, both small and large, for both private and public spaces, using a variety of materials ranging from canvas and wood to synthetic polymers. In his works, he manages to reinterpret everyday experiences through colors, shapes and sensations that generate reflections on the systems and social situations of our times.

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Giana De Dier
Panamanian, 1980

Panamanian artist Giana De Dier explores the representation of the Afro-descendant population through drawings and collages that he builds with information and materials from historical archives, oral histories and family memories, as well as with photos she takes and the appropriation of old photographs. She focuses on representations of women of origin caribbean, putting together imaginary scenarios to commemorate the resilience of the West Indian migrants who arrived in the country for the construction of the canal and to bear witness to their contribution to the shaping of identity panameña.

De Dier estudió Artes Visuales en the University of Panama. After his first participation in a group show in 2009, and his first individual exhibition in 2014, he has exhibited on a dozen occasions atPanamá, Italy and the United States. In 2022, she was invited to the prestigious 58ª Carnegie International en Pittsburgh and in 2023, she was the winner of the first artist residency at el Panama Interoceanic Canal Museum.

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