2017 Venice Biennale Curation:
Frank Walter: The Last Universal Man
Frank Walter: The Last Universal Man 1926–2009 marks Antigua and Barbuda’s inaugural representation at the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition invites visitors to inhabit the creative world and humanist vision of seminal Caribbean artist Frank Walter through a selection of his paintings, sculpture, audio recordings, and writing—as well as through video exploration of his entire oeuvre consisting of 5,000 works of art and a 25,000-page archive. The Last Universal Man is also conceived of as a space to inspire dialogue—a posthumous fulfillment of Walter’s intention to open his house and studio as a center for art.
Walter began adulthood with the distinction of being the first person of color to manage a sugar plantation in Antigua, and he remained devoted to the land as a source of meaning and sustenance throughout his life. Walter’s complex, mixed-race descent from both slave owners and enslaved people meant that he struggled with the complexities of his identity. His position as other within postcolonial society was felt acutely in the systemic racism he endured during his eight-year Grand Tour of Europe in the 1950s, and it informed his obsessive interest in his white aristocratic lineage. In Walter’s imagining, his German heritage was connected to the royal houses of Great Britain and Europe, and he increasingly referred to himself as the “7th Prince of the West Indies, Lord of Follies and the Ding-a-Ding Nook.”
Walter’s need to invent his own universe originated in the difficulties he encountered in constructing his identity in relation to a society defined by exclusion. When Walter retreated into nature, art was his solace. He populated his world with talismanic sculptures depicting figures as varied as ancient Arawak people, European royalty, and men from outer space. He revisited his memories in painting and writing and explored nature as an avid environmentalist and student of science. Walter’s diverse practice as visual artist, musician, and philosopher reveals him as the ultimate Vitruvian man.
In 2017, the pavilion’s landscape and architectural design enabled visitors to inhabit the world of a profound artist who lived close to nature. The presentation created a dialogue directly addressing mental health issues, incarceration, and the global housing crisis, all of which he personally experienced. Unlike most other National Pavilions, Preservation Green elected to present the work in an unplugged manner, thereby allowing the visitor to make their own assessment, and to ponder the life and challenges of the artist.
Barbara Paca is the Cultural Envoy to Antigua and Barbuda. Explore other curatorial and exhibition work for Antigua and Barbuda’s National Pavilions.
Venice Biennale Exhibition Design:
Frank Walter: The Last Universal Man
Venice Biennale Curation:
Environmental Justice is a Civil Right
Venice Biennale Curation:
Carnival as Resistance