Building Worlds: Torkwase Dyson in Venice

For In Minor Keys, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Torkwase Dyson created Tougaloo, a large-scale multimedia installation incorporating atmospheric soundscapes and glass made on the Venetian island of Murano. Referencing her time at Tougaloo College in Mississippi as well as the history of displacement of the Choctaw Nation, who were the original inhabitants of that area, the work expands upon her visionary exploration of transhistorical liberation in world-building. “It was really an instinct of mine to look into my own past and my own history to think about a work that would bring ideas of community, unity, force, and place to Venice,” says Dyson. Tougaloo is on view in the Arsenale through November 22.