Last Saturday, May 11th, the 58th Venice Art Biennale kicked off, an international fair that brings together the best of cinema, architecture, dance, music and theater. More than 70 international artists will fill the city with cultural exhibitions of the most varied types, but it is the women who have really been stealing the show. This year, the Biennial's theme is " may you live in interesting times ," prompting artists to find creative ways to portray the complexities of modern life. From Trump's wall to beach opera, check out 8 women who have spared no expense in the political and environmental aspects of their work. [caption id="attachment_76861" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]

[/caption] France is represented in the liquid pavilion by Laure Prouvost , who created a resin design that simulates seawater. Visitors are surprised by an entire white room, colored only by a beautiful light blue floor covered in impurities, in denunciation of maritime pollution. The presentation is centered on the screening of a fictional film that portrays the beginning of a journey through France, undertaken by characters of different ages and social backgrounds, in a reflection on who we are, where we come from and where we are going. [caption id="attachment_76751" align="aligncenter" width="824"]

[/caption] Teresa Margolles ' work is made up of a wall: this is the way the Mexican artist found to visually explore the current political scenario. Alluding to Trump's wall on the border between Mexico and the United States, the artist sought to protest against the powerlessness of the lower social classes using barbed wire and concrete. A Frontera reflects Margolles' tendency to question current society based on the problems of his own country, giving voice to the Mexican population and raising discussions about issues such as drug trafficking. [caption id="attachment_76864" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]

[/caption] The Lithuanian pavilion rewrites what it means to be a beach: inside a historic building, visitors are invited to join beachgoers of all ages, styles and genders in an opera performance. For an hour, the voices of the swimsuit-clad singers merge into a moving melody, which earned the performance Sun and Sea (Marina) the Golden Lyon award. The women who conceived and brought the project to life are Lina Lapelyte , Vaiva Grainyte and Rugile Barzdziukaite , curated by Lucia Pietroiusti . The Zimbabwe pavilion focuses on forced migration and the breakdown of family life, in moving portraits of refugees. Kudzanai-Violet Hwami ’s paintings manage to transcribe the condition of black characters in bold paint colors that refer to a national ethnicity. At 26, Hwami’s work reflects a thematic and stylistic maturity. Her paintings reveal the challenges and risks of diaspora, the loneliness faced by migrants, and the sense of belonging linked to leaving one’s home country. [caption id="attachment_76878" align="aligncenter" width="683"]

[/caption] The Biennial will also feature the work of Martine Gutierrez , a trans Latina artist based in New York. Called " Body in Thrall ," the artist brings an intimate and critical look at feminine beauty and forms of contemporary colonialism. Known for having produced and single-handedly published a fashion magazine called Indigenous Woman, consisting of 146 pages and filled with self-portraits, Gutierrez seeks to give her photographs a subversive and gender-fluid character. [caption id="attachment_76866" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

[/caption] Renate Bertlmann 's beautiful installation questions the ambivalence of human existence in a delicate and precise way. A hundred red roses hold sharp knives inside them, which have been fixed side by side across the canonically white space, creating a powerful visual effect. A leading member of international feminist artists, Bertlmann is the first woman to have a solo show in the Austrian pavilion at the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale. [caption id="attachment_76865" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]

[/caption] Brazilian Bárbara Wagner is also present at the Biennial. Since 2011, she has produced, together with Benjamin Burca, a series of audiovisual works that discuss popular and little-explored themes, such as brega from Pernambuco. This year, the film Swinguerra will be shown, which in its 20 minutes shows the experiences of three dance groups of brega funk and funk from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The groups of young people meet in places in Recife to rehearse the choreographies that will be performed in swingueira competitions. [april-see-also]W3siaWQiOjYyNjExLCJ0aXRsZSI6IkJpZW5hbCBkZSBWZW5lemEgMjAxODogbW9zdHJhIHJldmVsYSBtdXJvcyBxdWUgbyBCcmFzaWwgcHJlY2lzYSB0cmFuc3BvciJ9LHsiaWQiOjc2MzAxLCJ0aXRsZSI6Ik5vdmEgWW9yayBpbnNwaXJhIHRl bmQmI3hFQTtuY2lhcyBkbyBkZXNpZ24gZSBkYSBhcnRlIG5vIE5ZQ3hEZXNpZ24gMjAxOSJ9LHsiaWQiOjc2NTExLCJ0aXRsZSI6IlRlY25vbG9naWEgZSBkZXNpZ24gaG9sYW5kJiN4RUE7cyB0b21hbSBjb250YSBkbyBOWUN4RGVzaWduIn1d[/april-see-also]

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