Ese Onojeruo has been appointed as the Shane Akeroyd Associate Curator for the British Council Commission at the 61st International Art Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia. She will work alongside artist Lubaina Himid at the British Pavilion, which is overseen by the British Council. Onojeruo, a London-based curator and film and video producer with a background at Tate, brings a practice focused on public programming, collective learning, and amplifying marginalized voices.
This appointment matters because it represents a wider cultural moment where a new generation of curators is reshaping institutional narratives from within. Onojeruo's curatorial approach is informed by her own experience as a first-generation woman of color with Nigerian heritage navigating multiple cultural registers. Her work at the British Pavilion, which this year is built as an immersive environment using sound, movement, and spatial choreography, reflects a philosophy of flourishing rather than mere survival for Black British cultural workers within major institutions.