BEHOLD, WE ARE HERE is shaped around artistic practices that reflect on the position of the subject in contemporary society through a critical rereading of historical narratives.

The participating artists offer us complexities from the point of view of the political subject in relation to histories that are both intimate and global. Their work questions public and collective memory and examines the past as it continues to impact the present. Whose stories are forgotten? What role do history and memory play in the formation of the Self? In which way are current structures and economies entangled with collective and individual pasts?

The exhibition speaks of transgressing borders as a foundation of desire, juxtaposing political narratives with images of beauty and grace. It highlights the political subject, as framed through power structures and boundaries, while also questioning its definition. It also brings together local and geographically distant perspectives on the construction of historical narratives that shape our political landscape.

BEHOLD, WE ARE HERE is curated by artist and writer Hanni Kamaly, whose practice and research form the affective and theoretical basis of the exhibition. Kamaly searches archives and collections for traces of bodies which were, throughout history, deprived of a name and a voice. The resulting work weaves together historical and anthropological fragments. It exposes structures of patriarchal and colonial power, racism and nationalism that extend into the present.

Artists: Ikram Abdulkadir, Aftenskole, Meriç Algün, Arkiv S, Rebeca Carapiá, Madubuko Diakité, Susanna Jablonski, Vincent Meessen, Roberto N Peyre

Hanni Kamaly (born in 1988 in Hamar, Norway) lives in Stockholm and has studied at the Malmö Art Academy, University of Lund. Solo exhibitions at Accelerator and Index in Stockholm, Ginerva Gambino in Cologne, Almanac in London, Skånes konstförening in Malmö and elsewhere. Works by Kamaly have also been shown at Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Malmö and at the Luleå Biennial in 2018, at the Malmö Art Museum in 2018–19, at Lunds konsthall in 2019, at the São Paulo Biennial in 2021 and the Biennale Matter of Art Prague in 2022.

Lunds konsthall and locations throughout Lund.

Opening on Friday, September 9 at 6–8pm
Performance by Roberto N Peyre at 6:30pm
Artist talk on Saturday, September 10 at 1pm: Susanna Jablonski and curator Hanni Kamaly