Ei Arakawa-Nash, a Japanese-born artist who no longer holds Japanese citizenship, will represent Japan at the Venice Biennale with an exhibition titled "Grass Babies, Moon Babies." The pavilion will feature over 100 baby dolls that visitors are invited to adopt and carry, engaging in caregiving tasks such as changing a nappy. Each doll corresponds to a historically significant date tied to minority communities, linking intimate acts of care to broader historical narratives. The project also includes a collaboration with the Korean Pavilion, marking the first such partnership between the two national pavilions in Biennale history.
This exhibition matters because it directly addresses diaspora and queer identity within the Japan Pavilion, a space that has rarely foregrounded such perspectives. By centering care as a social and political structure, Arakawa-Nash challenges institutional frameworks and conservative political contexts in Japan, where LGBTQ+ rights remain limited. The work also blurs boundaries between architecture and garden, extending participation beyond the pavilion, and sets a precedent for cross-pavilion collaboration at the Biennale.