Matteo Norzi Reflects on Sara Flores’s Work at the Peru Pavilion at La Biennale Di Venezia 2026

Why It Matters

The pavilion elevates indigenous visual culture onto a world stage, fostering preservation and influencing global conversations on sustainability and cultural equity.

Key Takeaways

• Sara Flores uses Kene to depict Shipibo-Konibo cosmology.
• Kene visual language emphasizes interconnection of humans, nature, spirits.
• Flores’ work at Venice showcases indigenous reciprocity principles.
• The art translates Amazonian energy into contemporary visual manifesto.
• Matteo Norzi highlights cultural preservation through global exhibition platform.

Summary

Matteo Norzi’s commentary frames Sara Flores’s installation at the Peru Pavilion of the 2026 Venice Biennale as a rare convergence of contemporary art and Shipibo‑Konibo tradition. Flores, described as a master of Kene, employs the indigenous visual language to render the community’s cosmology, turning patterns into a narrative of kinship that stretches beyond human boundaries. The core of the work is Kene’s capacity to illustrate an interconnected network of life—plants, animals, rivers, land, and spirit—embodying the principle of reciprocity that underpins indigenous existence. Norzi emphasizes that the piece functions as both aesthetic expression and a manifesto, translating the Amazon’s energetic pulse into a language intelligible to global audiences. Key moments include Flores’s assertion, “We are all interconnected,” and the visual portrayal of non‑human entities as equal participants in a shared ecosystem. The installation’s rhythmic patterns echo the Shipibo belief that nature’s growth mirrors a living, responsive energy. By situating this indigenous perspective within a premier international forum, the pavilion amplifies calls for cultural preservation, invites dialogue on environmental stewardship, and positions indigenous art as a catalyst for broader socio‑political discourse.

Original Description

‘She’s a woman that dreams in patterns’, says Matteo Norzi, the co-curator of ‘Sara Flores: From Other Worlds’.⁠

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Watch as Matteo Norzi reflects on Sara Flores’s work at the Peru Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia 2026.⁠

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Rooted in Kené, the ancestral visual language of the Shipibo-Konibo, Sara’s practice articulates a system of relationships that extends beyond the human, encompassing plants, animals, land and spirit.⁠

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Across the pavilion, painting, sculpture and film unfold as interconnected structures, inviting a sensory and introspective encounter with a worldview grounded in reciprocity and interconnection.⁠

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🔗 Click the link to learn more⁠: https://whitecube.art/WhiteCubeinVenice

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📍 ‘Sara Flores: From Other Worlds’ is on view from 9 May – 22 November 2026 at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia⁠

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Following her presentation in Venice, White Cube New York will present a solo exhibition by Sara Flores from 25 June – 14 August 2026.⁠

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Video © White Cube (MACO Film) 2026⁠