SONJA ILLUSTRATES
BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
2024
In 2024, I was invited to exhibit at the 60th Venice Biennale as a guest artist within the Cameroon Pavilion. My work, Frames of Reference, remained on display throughout the Biennale—an extraordinary milestone in my artistic journey. Part self-portrait and part visual fairy tale, the piece explores how the places we inhabit, the stories we inherit and the experiences that transform us become the frames through which we understand ourselves.
My Story
In autumn 2023, I learned that the theme of the upcoming Venice Biennale would be Foreigners Everywhere – Stranieri Ovunque. It immediately felt both important and deeply personal. I was given the opportunity to create an artwork responding to the theme and submit it for consideration.
At the time, I had already begun working on an autobiographical piece that seemed to belong within this conversation. For months, I worked intensely to complete it in time. Frames of Reference became a deeply personal self-portrait told as a visual fairy tale—a journey through identity, migration, motherhood, belonging and transformation.
I was beyond elated when I learned that it had been selected for the 2024 Venice Biennale, where I exhibited as a guest artist within the Cameroon Pavilion. Through intricate symbolism, layered frames and contrasts between light and darkness, my personal story became part of a much wider conversation about what it means to be—and to feel like—a foreigner.
Frames of Reference
Foreigners Everywhere is chosen as the theme.
Adriano Pedrosa was chosen as curator.
Fall of 2023: Only a few months to complete the artwork
The months leading up to submission were nerve-wrecking. I convinced myself it was going to work. I remember screaming with joy when I received the phone call that my work had been chosen.
April 2024: The day the artwork went up.
I can not remember ever being so nervous and excited about anything in my life.
April 2024: Grand Opening Weekend
I was invited to attend the Grand Opening Ceremony.
The Work
Frames of Reference.
April 2024: The Grand Opening Ceremony
Such an honour to gather around with all of the other artists and representatives of the Pavilion of Cameroon.