As the Venice Biennale prepares to open to the public next Saturday, Canada will be notably well represented in this year’s central exhibition, “In Minor Keys,” a globally scoped survey of contemporary art. Among the 110 artists featured, five hail from Canada, a significant presence given the country’s typically limited visibility beyond the national pavilion.

This year’s presentation at the Canada Pavilion highlights Montreal-based Abbas Akhavan. However, Canada’s broader involvement extends beyond its traditional space, reflecting a departure from past Biennales that often overlooked developments outside major North American art hubs like New York and Los Angeles. Critics have noted that the 2024 edition missed an opportunity to include Indigenous Canadian artists, whose work would have resonated with ongoing themes of identity and otherness.

The 2026 Biennale carries particular significance under the stewardship of Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, the first Black woman to direct the exhibition and the first to do so posthumously. Kouoh passed away unexpectedly in May 2025, shortly after her appointment and about six months after her cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, she had completed the core curatorial framework, including artist selections and thematic direction focusing on concepts such as seeding, collaboration, rest, and enchantment, drawing heavily from African and diasporic perspectives. Her team has continued to realize the project in line with her vision.

Among the Canadian artists, spirituality and the interplay between culture and nature emerge as common threads. Montreal painter Manuel Mathieu, of Haitian descent, presents work that balances abstraction and figuration. His recent pieces, moving beyond earlier references to Haiti’s historical struggles, explore visceral and universal human themes. His spring exhibition in Montreal, “Perineum,” exemplifies this approach with dynamic compositions that subtly evoke human forms.

Toronto-based artists Rajni Perera and Marigold Santos participate as a collaborative duo. Their work merges Asian mythological motifs with decorative traditions, focusing on themes of female empowerment through fantastical imagery. Perera, whose family is originally from Sri Lanka, is known for meticulous paintings and sculptures that blend South Asian miniature styles with narratives drawn from myth and science fiction. Santos, a Filipino-Canadian living in Calgary and a practicing tattoo artist, incorporates elements of traditional dress and dance into surreal figures adorned with vibrant geometric patterns reminiscent of psychedelic skin.

Ojibwe artist Bonnie Devine, representing the Serpent River First Nation, brings a depth of experience as the retired founding chair of the Indigenous visual culture program at Ontario College of Art and Design University. Known for her installations that layer Indigenous storytelling with mapping and environmental concerns, Devine’s longstanding engagement with themes surrounding land and colonial history remains prominent.

Finally, Japanese-Canadian artist Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka incorporates traditional Japanese paper arts and printmaking techniques into her multidisciplinary work. Drawing inspiration from Edo-period ukiyo-e and gyotaku fish prints, Hatanaka’s sculptures and installations also reflect her experiences living with bipolar disorder. Since 2021, she has collaborated with Inuit artist Ashoona Ashoona in Nunavut, creating works that link Japanese and Arctic cultures through imagery of ice, snow, and shared histories.

This expanded Canadian representation at the Venice Biennale marks a distinctive engagement with cultural hybridity, history, and identity, aligning closely with Kouoh’s curatorial themes and underscoring a more inclusive narrative within the international art scene.