Venice Architectural Biennale gives overdue voice to long-silenced Africa

By COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko is giving voices that have long been silenced a platform at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. It’s the first biennale architectural exhibition ever curated by an African and features a preponderance of work by Africans and the African diaspora. Opening Saturday, the 18th architectural Biennale is titled “The Laboratory of the Future” and explores decolonization and decarbonization. Lokko says these are topics about which Africans have much to say, citing the long exploitation of the continent of both human and environmental resources. Lokko tapped global stars like David Adjaye and Theaster Gates among 89 participants in the main show — more than half of them from Africa or the African diaspora.