ART THE ARMS FAIR
11. 09. 21 - 17. 09. 21
Art the Arms Fair intends to expose the DSEI arms fair, which is held with the support of the UK Government in London every two years. One of the world’s largest arms fairs, DSEI opens its doors for one reason only - to push for as many arms sales as possible, including to official delegations from countries with poor human rights records and those involved in conflict. Hosting DSEI in London comes as a particular blow after Sadiq Khan’s recent statement opposing it, and in the wake of London’s pledge to house up to 5,000 Afghan refugees.
As the ExCel Centre throws open its doors again to sell weapons, ammunition and tanks, Art the Arms Fair will set up shop across the city in Mayfair selling editions and products by a roster of British and refugee artists, which makes visible the human impact of the UK’s involvement in the arms trade. For the first time Art the Arms Fair will partner with Art Represent, a non-profit dedicated to empowering displaced artists around the world. The three artists from Art Represent participating in this year’s exhibition include Azim Fakhri, also known as Kabul Knight, whose work responds to the recent atrocities in Afghanistan.
Tibet through the lens of Nyema Droma
30. 11. 2017 – 30. 01. 18
Maria Kulikovska
09.05.2015
Having established herself as one the most exciting emerging talents in recent years, this will be the Ukranian artist’s first solo show.
Inspired by the recent events in Ukraine, the works that will feature in the exhibition are embedded within a wider discourse of violent conflict and its implications on public life and the private self. Using art as her weapon, Kulikovska underlines the mental and physical toll that violent conflict can take on women in particular, so often the victims of sexual abuse and invisible contributors of the wartime economy.
This exhibition will open in two parts. Part I, Flowers of Democracy (FoD) on 1 May, will be a continuation of Kulikovska’s most prolific art action. FoD was originally launched in the summer of 2015 in Ukraine as a way of highlighting the plight of women in the ongoing conflict in the region.
Part II of the exhibition is titled ‘9th of May’, in references Victory Day, a holiday marking the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union. In 2015, the Ukrainian government approved a package of laws on “decommunisation” in an effort to re-write an official version of Ukrainian 20th century history that’s separated from Russia. The 9th of May exhibition will feature a series of sculptures, ceramics and sketches to show the fragile relationship between the human body and the external context of war. For this exhibition, Kulikovska has recreated sculpture pieces from previous bodies of work, which the artist regards a poetic extension of her own corporeal body. Sculptures from Homo Bulla, 254, and Flowers of Democracy, which were originally created and destroyed by the war, will now be re-birthed and reclaimed as a message of hope and action.
TRANSIT IN DOUBT PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
SEPTEMBER 3 – SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
Transit in Doubt is a multimedia photography exhibition featuring the works of ten female domestic helpers from Indonesia currently living in Hong Kong.
There are currently 300,000 foreign domestic helpers who live and work in Hong Kong, most of them female. The helpers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, earn only one-third of the average salary in Hong Kong (500USD) despite working over 80 hours a week.
The cameras that they hold in their hands enable them to shift from being seen to seeing – a power transposition towards recovering their sense of selfhood and agency. Despite being domestic helpers, they should not be condemned to a life of servitude. Rather, their work involves a process of negotiation, transiting through contradicting emotions of frustration, hope and uncertainty.
31. 10. 2017 – 23. 12. 17
Beyond the veil - A decontextualisation
MALINA SULIMAN'S FIRST UK SOLO EXHIBITION
MAY 28 - AUGUST 27, 2015
For its inaugural exhibition, Art Represent will present the first UK solo show of Afghani artist Malina Suliman titled Beyond The Veil - A Deconstructualisation.
Born in 1990 in Kandahar, Malina Suliman is one of a small number of female artists who have emerged from war-ravaged Afghanistan. After studying Fine Art in Pakistan, Suliman was inspired by the potential of street art. When she began working as a street artist in Kandahar, her work garnered global attention. One of her most iconic motifs was the skeletal form dressed in a blue burqa which highlighted the issues of identity, inequality, and oppression in Afghanistan.
Beyond The Veil – A Decontextualisation, created with the support of Art Represent, marks a new direction in the artist’s career. Bringing together, sound, video and substituting the graffiti wall for a burqa, Suliman’s decontextualisation of this highly charged item of clothing reminds us of how context can shift meaning.
ART REPRESENT FUNDRAISE
London, UK - On 25 March 2015, Art Represent will exhibit the work of Australian photographer Luke Cody in a fundraising event to enable public projects and exhibitions with contemporary artists who are endangered and displaced by socio-political and economic turmoil.
After having spent several years in the banking sector, self-taught photographer Luke Cody began using the camera as a tool to tell stories. The works generously donated to this exhibition are a result of his self-funded projects to Afghanistan, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and Ukraine and provide insight into the daily lives of those in the midst of warfare. The poignant images on show document some of the most significant events in global politics and comment on modern day complexities in regions fraught with conflict. His work has been featured in The Guardian, Evening Standard and New Yorker Magazine and exhibited at the Royal United Services Institute in association with NATO.