Ihsan Saad Ihsan Tahir, أخْتَفو وَراءْ ألشَمْس (They Disappeared Behind the Sun), All all all, Copenhagen
One of the most fragile, yet strongest exhibitions I have seen in very long time. The most intriguing aspect for me was the artist’s journey to and from the motifs and materials chosen, and how the story line, almost stills from a movie, told of such a powerful silence that calling it merely poetic would not be justified. It felt like coming home and, at the same time, like never knowing home. Like the artist, who temporarily lost his voice, I became silent and without words for a while.
Sall Lam Toro, Obsidian Dream Love Letters, New Sh*t Vol. 7, Edison-scenen, Frederiksberg, Curated by of Escarleth Romo Pozo
I think some of the toughest elements in art are the poetic, the political, and the futuristic. Sall Lam Toro’s performance managed to merge all these elements as one. It made me feel like part of an ancient prophecy and yet a distant, hopefully beautiful future.
J.G Arvidsson, Yours To Keep, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen
One of my favourite media is painting, and one of my least favourite spaces is the sterile gallery. But after I had seen Arvidsson’s graduation show in 2020, I had to reenter his universe. I felt like I had waited too long. I want to know more about what I might have missed in Arvidsson’s paintings. I want to be in one of Arvidsson’s paintings every day. I want to see the world through his palette and I want to invite scholars and poets and my mother – everyone wise – to tell me more. We need to look together, all at the same time, for one person’s view is too small to comprehend the magnitude of Arvidsson’s fantastic and deep universe.
– Eliyah Mesayer is an artist living in Copenhagen and the founder of Illiyeen and the Mesayer Fund for the Stateless Young. She recently showed the installation Mighty Migrant as part of Bad Timing or How to Write History Without Objects at Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen. She is currently a resident at Art Hub Copenhagen.
For this year’s contributions to the Advent Calendar, see here
