3 Jun 2013

Tuvalu makes statement at prestigious Venice Biennale

7:14 pm on 3 June 2013

Tuvalu has opened its pavilion at one of the world's most prestigious art shows, the Venice Biennale in Italy.

The country's exhibit houses the work of Taiwanese artist Vincent Huang who has used a series of installations and black humour to reveal how Tuvalu is affected by climate change.

His six-metre high interactive oil pump invites people to fill up petrol while contemplating the statues of symbolic dying animals.

Mr Huang says he was drawn to what he calls Tuvalu's tragic situation as a country producing near zero emissions yet being the first in the world to sink below sea level.

One of the pavilion's commissioners, Tuvalu's Foreign Minister Apesai Ielemia, has been in Venice for the opening of the exhibit.