Jermay Michael Gabriel to Present “Waves of Ash” at 2026 Venice Biennale

Collaborative performance with Tsedaye Makonnen to be presented as part of “1922 Revisited” during preview week (May 5–9, 2026)

NEW YORK, NY, April 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Third Space Art Foundation announces that artist Jermay Michael Gabriel will present the performance Waves of Ash at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The work, created in collaboration with Tsedaye Makonnen, will be performed during preview week (May 5–9, 2026) as part of 1922 Revisited, a live arts program examining the historical 1922 Biennale exhibition.

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Jermay Michael Gabriel is an Italian–Eritrean–Ethiopian artist whose experimental and multifaceted practice explores themes of identity, memory, and transformation. His work unfolds through layered visual and spatial languages, drawing on archival materials, architectural references, and hybrid forms spanning performance, photography, and installation.

His research investigates epistemological constructions between Europe and Africa, engaging with the stratifications of colonial memory and its afterlives. Gabriel’s work frequently operates through a tension between concealment and revelation, where fragments of stories surface through material traces, inviting viewers to engage with what is visible, obscured, and unresolved.

Through sound and installation, Gabriel constructs non-linear narratives that function as evolving archives of memory. His practice creates spaces where past, present, and future intersect, challenging the viewer to navigate between objectivity and illusion, and between the tangible and the speculative.

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Waves of Ash, developed in collaboration with Makonnen, brings these concerns into dialogue through a performance-installation composed of burned wood, textiles, and collected materials from the Venetian lagoon. The work centers on acts of transformation, where burning operates simultaneously as destruction and renewal, while raising questions about how histories are transmitted, interpreted, and contested.

Situated within the lagoon as a site of passage and layered memory, the performance reflects on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as interconnected spaces shaped by migration and displacement. Through this lens, Waves of Ash engages the histories of Black, African, and Afro-descendant peoples, addressing the conditions under which narratives are preserved, erased, or reimagined.

Makonnen’s contribution to the collaboration introduces a parallel engagement with diasporic knowledge systems and embodied practice, extending the work’s exploration of memory, movement, and social history.

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Waves of Ash will be presented at the Giardini della Marinaressa as part of 1922 Revisited, organized by Third Space Art Foundation in collaboration with the African Art in Venice Forum (AAVF) and the European Cultural Centrr (ECC-Italy) . The program features a series of live performances by contemporary artists engaging with the historical legacy of the 1922 Biennale exhibition.

Key Facts

Featured Artist: Jermay Michael Gabriel
Collaborating Artist: Tsedaye Makonnen
Performance Title: Waves of Ash
Program: 1922 Revisited
Dates: May 5–9, 2026 (Preview Week)
Location: Giardini della Marinaressa, Venice
Presented by: Third Space Art Foundation
In collaboration with: African Art in Venice Forum; European Cultural Centre

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Learn More

Third Space Art Foundation: https://thirdspaceartfoundation.org/
1922 Revisited: https://1922revisited.org/
Venice Biennale: https://www.labiennale.org/en

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About Third Space Art Foundation

Third Space Art Foundation supports artistic exchange and collective engagement through the cultivation of third spaces - dynamic zones of encounter, negotiation, and creative transformation. Drawing from the widely embraced concept of third space as a site for dialogue, and Homi Bhabha’s decolonial theory of third space as a liminal ground that challenges fixed hierarchies and dominant narratives, Third Space Art Foundation advances practices that expand cultural understanding and foster new frameworks for connection. Through exhibitions, residencies, and collaborative initiatives, it brings together artists and communities across geographic and cultural divides, working to catalyze critical inquiry, mutual understanding, and new structures of solidarity.

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Portrait of Jermay Michael Gabriel

Artist Jermay Michael Gabriel, whose multidisciplinary practice explores identity, memory, and transformation, will present Waves of Ash at the 2026 Venice Biennale as part of 1922 Revisited, organized by Third Space Art Foundation.

Waves of Ash Performance by Jermay Michael Gabriel and Tsedaye Makonnen

Jermay Michael Gabriel and Tsedaye Makonnen present Waves of Ash, a performance-installation incorporating textiles, movement, and collected materials from the Venetian lagoon. The work will be performed during preview week (May 5–9, 2026) as part of "1922 Revisited" at the Venice Biennale, presented by Third Space Art Foundation.

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