Behjat Omer Abdulla Visual artist, educator and artistic project leader Born 1976, Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan/Iraq. Based in Borås and Gothenburg, Sweden. +46 720 215 131 | [email protected] | www.behjatomer.com
Behjat Omer Abdulla (b. 1976, Kurdistan, Iraq) is a visual artist who lives and works between Borås and Gothenburg, Sweden. He studied at Staffordshire University in the UK and received his MFA from Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg, where he now teaches as an adjunct lecturer at HDK-Valand. Abdulla's practice centres on drawing, which he extends through photography, video and installation. Working mainly in graphite and charcoal, he builds black-and-white worlds from personal and collective memory. He often starts from photographs and retold stories and turns them into large, detailed drawings. The slow, careful process of drawing becomes a way to hold onto what is fragile, fading or hard to put into words. His work deals with war, identity, displacement and belonging. It often focuses on individual lives and on experiences that are hard to explain or share. Rather than giving answers, the work invites viewers to look closely, to shift how they see the subject, and to think about their own place in relation to other people's stories. Alongside his studio work, Abdulla creates participatory and public projects that bring people together through making. These include the lantern procession River of Light in Gothenburg and the public artwork Should We Help Each Other? What If We Do?, a meeting place for people and pollinators. He has exhibited internationally, including at Tate Modern and Southbank Centre in London and in Drone Vision at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg.
Perhaps we all live inside our own personal and collective memories. Without realising it, we carry our experiences with us, speak through them and rely on them. When we turn experiences and memories into visual form, we try to share them, to recognise one another and to find a way out of struggle. Art can both attract and repel. It is also a powerful and influential tool with which to transform our troubled minds and bodies into desirable objects related to the issues of humanity.
SELECTED PUBLIC ART, COMMISSIONS AND COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS 2028 – River of Light, forthcoming edition, Gothenburg. 2026 – Should We Help Each Other? What If We Do? public artwork, developed collectively with young cultural summer workers and art pedagogue Mija Renström; realised with Stadskupan in the entrance biotope at Slakthuset, Gamlestaden, Gothenburg. Göteborgs Konsthall / KAKA – Konstpedagogiska akademin. 2025 – Artist and workshop leader, Bröd och honung / Bread and Honey, three-week art-pedagogical residency at Slakthuset, Göteborgs Konsthall with KAKA – Konstpedagogiska akademin, in collaboration with Mija Renström. Collective art project with young cultural summer workers: Jana Saric, Jehay Wahwah, Mahir Abdirahin Jimale, Andreas Franzén, Fatima Said, Jahxena Hills and Mars Palmqvist. 2024 — Unclaimed Experience, group screening program, curated by Sara Jordenö. Springs Projects, 20 Jay Street, Brooklyn, New York, USA (7 September). With Louise Bourque, Africanus Okokon, Kathryn Ramey, Evelyn Cao, Bryan Parcival, Runo Lagomarsino, Carlos Motta, Tomonari Nikishawa and others. 2016–2020 – River of Light, annual lantern-making workshops and public procession marking the UN World Day of Social Justice (20 February), Gothenburg. Editions: 2016 Valand / SRK collaboration; 2017 Sea of Stories; 2018 Göteborgsoperan / SRK; 2019 Open to the World; 2020 Equal Under the Same Sky 2019–2026 – Resignation Syndrome, mural in collaboration with Kulturbyrået Mesen, Dronningens gate 27, Oslo, Norway. 2018 – It’s Your Turn Doctor, video and drawing installation commissioned for Drone Vision: Warfare, Surveillance, Protest, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg. Developed through meetings, workshops and listening sessions in dialogue with Support Group Network Restad Gård. 2017 – Art educator, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA): Wheredoiendandyoubegin – On Secularity, Gothenburg 2016 – Swedish representative, Art Transforming Urban Spaces, Borås 2015 – Selected artist, Journey Festival, outdoor wall installations, Leicester, UK 2013 – Selected artist, London Road Festival, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2012 – Lead artist, My London Road, London Road Festival, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2012 – Coordinator and curator of visual art elements, Fringe Festival, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2012 – Artist and project manager, Take This Waltz, UK 2011 – Kibblesworth Insider art project, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK 2011 – 100 Stories, performance, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2010 – Over the Bridge Night, film projection, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2010 – Conjunction: Escape, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, UK COLLABORATION WITH KJELL CAMINHA 2023–2026 – Co-teaching, second year of the BFA in Fine Art, HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg 2026 – Co-organiser and facilitator, The Artist as Outsider / Local / Parachute…, HDK-Valand, Gothenburg; with Gloria López Cleries, Esmeralda Valencia Lindström, Kjell Caminha and Nilo Zamiri 2026 – Co-editor of Meandering Source, publication from HDK-Valand BFA year 2 in partnership with Gislaveds konsthall. 2026 – Co-editor of Såg aldrig marken / Never Saw the Ground, publication from HDK-Valand BFA year 2 in partnership with Vänersborgs konsthall. SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2025 – På avstånd / From a Distance – Into a Full Moon, Halmstads konsthall (22 Feb–18 May). 2022 – What If Life Is Black and White?, Borås Konstmuseum. 2019 – One More Story, Vänersborgs konsthall. SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2023 – Collaboration exhibition, HULU Split – Croatian Association of Visual Artists, Split, Croatia 2019 – Sink Without Trace, P21 Gallery, London, UK 2018 – En Mal d’Archive, Station, Beirut, Lebanon 2017 – Who Are We?, Tate Modern, London, UK 2016 – Out of Chaos, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK 2016 – Summer Dig and ENACT, Göteborgs Konsthall 2016 – Stipendiatutställningen, Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm 2016 – 100 for 100 and Unexpected: Continuing Narratives of Identity and Migration (with Counterpoints Arts), Ben Uri Museum of Art, London, UK 2016 – A Brighter Darkness, A-venue, Gothenburg 2015 – Can You Dig It?, Vasagatan 33, Gothenburg 2015 – Human Condition, Tenthaus, Oslo, Norway 2015 – Adopting Britain, Southbank Centre, London, UK 2013 – Höstsalongen, Kulturhuset Borås 2012 – AirSpace Window Exhibition, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2011 – Counterpoint, Platforma Festival, Rochelle School Gallery, London; Stick-Up, British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent; Factory Night, National Garden Festival, Stoke-on-Trent; Avenue of Portraits, Hayward Gallery, London; Anti Curate and BE Festival, Midland Art Centre, Birmingham; KMQ, slideshow, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent; Kiss Me Quick, Harbour Arm Gallery, Margate; Here Is My World, The Crocus Gallery, Nottingham; DAT Fest, 100 Stories, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2010 – Southgate Place, Bath; Black Country Creative Advantage, The Public, West Bromwich; Wirksworth Festival, Newbridge Gallery, Wirksworth; Amaze, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2009 – HEP, video installation, José Malhoa Museum, Portugal; IM BANANAPARK, Berlin; Guildford Lane Gallery, Melbourne; World Domination 6, Schloss Blumenthal, Germany; Shifting Origin, ArtWaves, Burslem; Oslo Open 2009, art film, Oslo; Home, Burslem School of Art, Stoke-on-Trent 2008 – Bethesda Splendours, video installation, Bethesda Chapel, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2003–2007 – Dishinit, 404 Bowls with 101 People and Artists Against Racism & Fascism (2007); Straight from the Heart, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery (2006); Holocaust Exhibition, New Vic Theatre, and Piconnectic, Semi Gallery (2005); Beyond Experience, Beyond Appearance, New Vic Theatre, and Behind the Veils, Elective Gallery (2004); Travelling Light, Art Exchange, The Surface Gallery, Nottingham (2003) 1992–1997 – Sulaimaniyah Institute of Fine Arts Gallery (1997); Diwar Band, Media Gallery, and University of Sulaimaniyah (1996); Media Gallery (1995); Museum & Art Gallery of Sulaimaniyah (1992), Kurdistan/Iraq
CURATING 2011 – Curator, Kiss Me Quick, slideshow, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, UK EDUCATION 2020 – PIL101 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 1, University of Gothenburg 2019 – Critical Pedagogy and Project Leading in the Academy, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg 2016 – MFA in Fine Art, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg 2010 – BA (Hons) Fine Art, First Class Honours, Staffordshire University, UK 2007 – ABC Level 1 Art, Design and Creative Studies – Digital Imaging, Stoke-on-Trent College, UK 1992–1997 – Diploma in Painting, Sulaimaniyah Institute of Fine Arts, Kurdistan/Iraq CURRENT POSITIONS AND TEACHING 2017–present | Adjunct Lecturer in Fine Art and Craft, HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg Teaching across BFA and MFA programmes. Since 2022, co-teaching the second year of the BFA in Fine Art with Kjell Caminha, including course development, studio tutorials, group critiques, exhibition and publication processes in partnership with regional art institutions. Other courses include: Drawing and storytelling and Drawing, Comic Art and Graphic Storytelling. 2018–present | Founder and Artistic Director, River of Light (non-profit association), Gothenburg and Borås; artistic project initiated in 2015. GRANTS AND AWARDS 2024 – Two-year working grant, Konstnärsnämnden 2022 – Two-year working grant, Konstnärsnämnden 2019 – Two-year working grant, Konstnärsnämnden 2018 – Commission and project grant, Drone Vision, Hasselblad Foundation 2018 – International project grant, Konstnärsnämnden 2016 – One-year working grant, Konstnärsnämnden 2016 – Eric Ericson Scholarship; Valand Academy Award; Swedish Intercultural Art Grant 2015 – Grant, Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts 2014 – Grant, Arts Council Norway 2010 – Prize for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Fine Art, Staffordshire University 2009 – Photography Show Award, Home, Burslem School of Art PUBLIC COLLECTIONS 2025 – Halmstads kommun, Kulturförvaltningen 2022 – Borås Konstmuseum 2022 – Västerås Konstmuseum 2021 – Statens konstråd (Public Art Agency Sweden), Corona Collection – Unidentified Objects I–III 2018 – Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg Also represented in private collections in Australia, Iraq, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. PUBLICATIONS 2026 – Meandering Source. Co-editor, with Kjell Caminha and Nils Svensk; editorial coordination and production. Publication from HDK-Valand's BFA programme in Fine Art, in collaboration with Gislaveds konsthall. 2026 – Såg aldrig marken / Never Saw the Ground. Co-editor, with Kjell Caminha and Saranda Azemi; editorial coordination and production. Publication from HDK-Valand's BFA programme in Fine Art, in collaboration with Vänersborgs konsthall. 2022 – Drone Vision: Warfare, Surveillance, Protest. Contribution to publication. Ed. Sarah Tuck, Art and Theory Publishing 2018 – Making Faces: Art and Intersectionality in Iraqi Kurdistan, Journal of Intersectionality, vol. 2, no. 2, Pluto Journals. DOI: 10.13169/jinte.2.2.0003 2022 – What if Life Were Black and White: An Interview with Behjat Omer Abdulla, Journal of Intersectionality, vol. 6, no. 1, Pluto Journals. Photo essay and interview on What If Life Is Black and White and From a Distance. DOI: 10.13169/jinte.6.1.0004 2016 – Can You Dig It?, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg. SELECTED TALKS AND JURIES 2025 – Artist talk, På avstånd, Halmstads konsthall 2022 – Juror, Höstsalongen, Värmlands Konstförening 2021 – Visiting artist and artist talk, Staffordshire University, UK 2019 – Artist talk, Art, Activism and Politics, with Hammarkullen Konsthall and Blå Stället, Gothenburg 2018 – Artist talk, Contemporary Art and Politics, with Göteborgs Konsthall and Gothenburg City Library 2015 – Artist talk, Spaces Between: Practice, Research, Pedagogy, Goldsmiths, University of London 2013 – Media trainer, Wiki Week:Say It Loud (2nd edition), Rennes, France 2012 – Artist talk, Newcastle University; talk and drawing workshop, Staffordshire University 2010 – Talk and drawing workshop, Staffordshire University
SELECTED PRESS AND WRITING ON THE WORK 2025 – “Skildrar flykten över Medelhavet – nu visas Behjats konst i Halmstad”, SVT Nyheter Halland 2019 – “Dear Christoph Büchel, this is how you provide context”, The Art Newspaper (on Sink Without Trace) 2017 – “Bearing witness” (From a Distance), openDemocracy LANGUAGES Languages: Kurdish (Sorani), native; English, professional proficiency; Farsi, working proficiency; Arabic, good knowledge. MEMBERSHIPS River of Light, member organisation of the Anna Lindh Foundation network