The Australia Council for the Arts has revealed details of Tracey Moffatt’s solo project for the Australian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, which takes place from May 13 – November 26, 2017.
Moffatt will be the second artist to exhibit in the award-winning Australian Pavilion in the Giardini, which replaced the previous structure in 2015.
Under the title My Horizon, Moffatt will present a new installation comprising film and photography, weaving a net of narratives connecting a variety of themes, ranging from pop culture to childhood memories and the intricacies of interpersonal relationships.
“My Horizon is very open and can be read in many ways,” Moffatt said in a statement. “The horizon line can represent the far and distant future or the unobtainable. There are times in life when we all can see what is ‘coming over the horizon’. This is when we make a move. Or we do nothing and just wait for whatever it is to arrive.”
Moffatt is no stranger to the Venice Biennale. In 1997 she was invited to participate in the exhibition’s Aperto section, dedicated to emerging artists without gallery representation. 20 years later, Moffatt returns with a solo exhibition that continues her distinctive approach to highly political work explored from a personal perspective.
“This will be an insightful and deeply moving exhibition, one that extends Tracey’s acclaimed body of work and cements her position as one of Australia’s most successful artists—someone who consistently takes the tempo of our times,” said Naomi Milgrom AO, Australia’s Commissioner for the 2017 Venice Biennale.
The curator of the Venice exhibition Natalie King said, “My Horizon will present a compendium of texts that reflect on Tracey’s highly political and deeply personal fictions, allowing readers to ponder what might be over the horizon.”
Australia’s participation at the Venice Biennale began in 1954, and has been managed by the Australia Council since 1978.