Artists and communities are using cultural expression as direct tools for countering global erasure, ensuring that potentially ignored communities keep a place in wider cultural discussion. From Venice Biennale pavilions going on strike over Israel's participation, to Iran's video jibes at Trump going viral in China, to comfort-women statues stoking Japan-South Korea rows, to Somali artists at their first-ever Venice pavilion — place-rooted voices claim space without surrendering specificity.