Studio Grant holder in Gothenburg, May and September 2025

Palestinian artist/filmmaker Basma al-Sharif explores cyclical political histories and conflicts. In films and installations that move backward and forward in history, between place and non-place, she confronts the legacy of colonialism through satirical, immersive, and lyrical works. Al-Sharif developed her practice nomadically between the US, Arab world, and Europe. Her work has orbited on the Occupation of Palestine and its repercussions, exploring the subjective psychological experience of displacement and violent landscapes through a visceral experience of information. Through film, video, sound, performance, photography, and drawing, al-Sharif creates multilayered and immersive pieces that manipulate socially constructed narratives as a way of offering solace, relief, and escape. Rather than reproducing violence or aiming to understand history, her works asks viewers to make sense of the world for themselves.

Photo: Nour Mobarak

Basma al-Sharif

She received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007, was a resident of the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in 2009, the Pavillon Neuflize OBC at the Palais de Tokyo in 2014-15. She received a Jury prize at the Sharjah Biennial in 2009, was awarded a Visual Arts of the Fundación Botín in 2010, Mophradat’s Consortium Commissions in 2018, she was a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme for 2022-2023 and was nominated for the Prix Aware for 2024.

Al-Sharif’s Major exhibitions include: Pompidou Metz, De Appel, the Ruttenberg Contemporary Photography Series for the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Mondays at MOMA, CCA Glasgow, SALT Galata, the Whitney Biennial, Here and Elsewhere at the New Museum, Berlin Documentary Forum, and Manifesta 8. Her films have screened in the international film festivals of Locarno, Berlin, Mar del Plata, Milan, London, Toronto, New York, Montreal, and Yamagata amongst others. Basma is based in Berlin and represented by Galerie Imane Farés in Paris.

The IASPIS residency will be used in two parts, first to connect to the local context, the architecture and landscape as the backdrop for a new film I will produce as part of the Gothenburg Biennale. And secondly, in order to return for the installation of the work, to give an artist talk, and hopefully visit Stockholm to expand the reach of the work.

This new film revisits my first feature film “Ouroboros”. A handful of artist friends were a strong part of how this film came to be. Though it was very much a film I authored and made decisions for, these individuals ultimately shaped what the film would be through their interventions, connections to land and language, and simply because of how they understood the mechanics of representation to function. At the time of filming, we rarely spoke about the political position of the film, which subtly asked about the future of Palestine. I return to the film, by inviting 2 key individuals from the original production to reflect on how we narrate the story of today for the future.

The suggestively nihilistic question that was the structure for Ouroboros was,in fact hopeful. The symbol of the snake eating its own tail (the Ouroboros) can be read as the perpetual suffering of repeating one’s mistakes endlessly or as regeneration and survival. The question remains and with this short film, and in the context of Europe, we will walk through the Gothenburg Konstmuseum’s Old Master’s collection and reflect on humanity, the role of culture, and the future.

Al-Sharif received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007, was a resident of the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in 2009, the Pavillon Neuflize OBC at the Palais de Tokyo in 2014-15. She received a Jury prize at the Sharjah Biennial in 2009, was awarded a Visual Arts of the Fundación Botín in 2010, Mophradat’s Consortium Commissions in 2018, she was a fellow of the Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme for 2022-2023 and was nominated for the Prix Aware for 2024.

Al-Sharif’s Major exhibitions include: Pompidou Metz, De Appel, the Ruttenberg Contemporary Photography Series for the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Mondays at MOMA, CCA Glasgow, SALT Galata, the Whitney Biennial, Here and Elsewhere at the New Museum, Berlin Documentary Forum, and Manifesta 8. Her films have screened in the international film festivals of Locarno, Berlin, Mar del Plata, Milan, London, Toronto, New York, Montreal, and Yamagata amongst others. Basma is based in Berlin and represented by Galerie Imane Farés in Paris.

https://imanefares.com/en/artistes/basma-al-sharif/

Instagram: @basmalsharif

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