Theres a pleasing ease and sensuousness to Trinket, Kapwani Kiwangas exhibition at theCanadian Pavilionat this yearsVenice Biennale.

So much of contemporary art is ugly, a fellow critic remarks as we appreciatively survey the installation.

Kapwani Kiwanga,Impiraresse (Blue), 2024.

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Kapwani Kiwanga,Transfer II (Metal, breath, beads), 2024. Bronze, blown glass, glass beads, 160 × 120 × 32 cm. Installation view, “Kapwani Kiwanga: Trinket,” 2024, Canada Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Cobalt glass beads, nylon-coated metal wire, metal components, dimensions variable.

Kapwani Kiwanga,Transfer I (Metal, breath, palm oil, beads), 2024.

Black steel, blown glass, palm oil, glass beads, 163 72.5 30 cm.

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Kapwani Kiwanga,Impiraresse (Blue), 2024. Cobalt glass beads, nylon-coated metal wire, metal components, dimensions variable.

Kapwani Kiwanga,Transfer III (Metal, wood, beads), 2024.

Wood, Pernambuco pigment, copper, glass beads, 160 100 66 cm.

The beads speak of important subject matter in an abstracted way, with beauty and elegance.

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Kapwani Kiwanga,Transfer I (Metal, breath, palm oil, beads), 2024. Black steel, blown glass, palm oil, glass beads, 163 × 72.5 × 30 cm.

Its always something poetic.

Theres a beauty in the making.

And its an open-ended conversation.

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Kapwani Kiwanga,Transfer III (Metal, wood, beads), 2024. Wood, Pernambuco pigment, copper, glass beads, 160 × 100 × 66 cm.

Four sculptures, composed of materials in almost-raw states, are also arrayed around the interior of the space.

These beads were at the root of it.

Those small units, you could say, built our Western world.

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Installation view of the exhibition “Kapwani Kiwanga: Trinket,” 2024, Canada Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

And yet we dont see it.

Its present, but its not perceived.

The beads also embody this Biennales theme of Foreigners Everywhere.

Commerce is about how things from different places move and create meaning.

It can be a good thing, but it can also be destructive and extractive.

Here, though, Kapwani aims to make something beautiful from all this.