Venice Biennale special: Lubaina Himid

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 944 Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TODAY on the GWA Podcast: a very special bonus episode with Lubaina Himid, on her British Council Commission for the British Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2026, "Presenting History: Testing Translation". Returning to the podcast for the second time, Lubaina Himid is an acclaimed Lancashire-based artist working in paintings, sculpture, installations, archives, and more, whose career spans from the 1980s – when she was established as one of the leaders and trailblazers of Britain's Black Arts movement – to the 2020s, where she uses her art and her training in theatre to create all-encompassing works that tackle silenced histories. While you can go to episode 33 to hear a deep dive into Himid's life and work, today we are focusing on her pavilion for Great Britain at the 61st Venice Biennale! An event that happens every two years, thought of as the most important space to showcase art and artists, the Venice Biennale revolves around a central exhibition, this year curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, titled "In Minor Keys", and is often a signifier to define not just what is happening in the world, but how we can understand it through art. The rest of the Biennale is made up of pavilions – think of it like the Olympics of art, whereby countries have exhibition spaces, nominating an artist to stage a show to compete for the gold medal equivalent, The Golden Lion. For the British Pavilion this year Himid will showcase large multi-panel paintings drenched in her signature vibrant palette. In conversation with the British Pavilion's neoclassical architecture, the installation will present Britain as welcoming and airy, brimming with potential, albeit with an underlying sense of unease as the texts, images, and soundscape (made in collaboration with artist Magda Stawarska) subtly introduce tension. And I can't wait to find out more. Lubaina Himid's British Council Commission for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will run from the 9th of May to the 22nd of November, 2026, and is curated by Ese Onojeruo. –– THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: www.famm.com/en/ www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Mikaela Carmichael Music by Ben Wetherfield

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the Great Women Artists podcast. I'm very excited to bring you
0:06.6	today's episode, but just before we get to our sponsor, I am delighted to say that my new book,
0:11.7	The Story of Art Without Men, an illustrated guide to amazing women artists for younger readers,
0:17.8	or anyone, to be honest, is out now. You can buy it from your local bookshop
0:22.7	or wherever you get your books. And I'm thrilled to say that this series is supported by the
0:27.7	Levit Collection, a vast and varied art collection, and which in the last eight years has become
0:33.6	entirely focused on works by women artists. You can find much of this made up of
0:39.2	impressionists, surrealist, abstract expressionists, contemporary artists and more at FAM in Mujan in
0:45.6	France, the first museum in the world outside of the USA to have a permanent collection
0:50.9	dedicated to major female artists. It's spearheaded by Christian Levitt,
0:55.5	who has published three research books in this area. Located in the heart of the historic village
1:01.1	of Mujan Nican in the south of France, FAM features a stunning collection of nearly 100 works
1:07.0	by 90 internationally acclaimed and emerging female artists. The impressive exhibition of
1:12.5	paintings, sculptures and photographs from the Levitt Collection highlights the creative brilliance
1:17.6	of women who have played pivotal roles in shaping some of the major artistic movements,
1:22.7	from Impressionism to contemporary art. It's only 30 minutes away from Nice Airport,
1:29.0	and FAM, which stands for Female Art artists of the Mujan Museum, is open every day. And for further information and bookings,
1:35.3	please visit www.famfamfablem.com. I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:47.0	Hello, everyone. I hope you enjoy this episode. Hello everyone and welcome to The Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
1:53.0	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October 2015,
1:59.0	which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging
2:02.5	from young graduates to old masters. Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast
	...

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