Addressing queer identity and resistance in the context of Muslim migration, Abdullah Qureshi will explore the significance of autobiography, sexuality and trauma in relation to his artistic practice and ongoing doctoral project: Mythological Migrations: Imagining Queer Muslim Utopias.
Mythological Migrations is a three-year multidisciplinary artistic project responding to the “European Migrant Crisis” triggered by the arrival in Europe of increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. This project is divided into three visual chapters, the first drawing on Islamic sacred texts and mythologies, the second examining experiences of LGBTIQ+ Muslim immigrants in Finland, and the third unpacking issues of “invisible whiteness” through the spaces of the nightclub, the darkroom, and the theme park. Mythological Migrations is funded by the Kone Foundation.
Abdullah Qureshi is a Pakistani-born artist, educator and cultural organizer. His practice uses art and collaborative methodologies to address personal histories, traumatic pasts, and childhood memories. A doctoral researcher at Aalto University, Finland, Qureshi was the 2017 recipient of the Art and International Cooperation fellowship at Zurich University of the Arts and Research Fellow at the Center for Arts, Design, and Social Research, Boston in 2018 – 2019. He is currently a visiting researcher at the Center for Feminist Research, York University, Toronto.
This talk is part of a series being held alongside the residency Carrying Histories which looks at the responsibility and burden of working with historical subject matter, with the aim of building cross-cultural awareness of past and present power structures. The residency is developed with Nairobi based artist Syowia Kyambi in collaboration with Oslo Kunstforening. PRAKSIS would like to thank the Goethe Institut, Oslo Kommune and Norske Kulturradet for their support of the residency and its events. Further information on the whole talk series is available by clicking here.
Image: Chapter 1: The Nightclub, a project curated by Abdullah Qureshi, and commissioned by Publics as part of the Today Is Our Tomorrow Festival at Club Kaiku, 2019.
Photograph courtesy: Kush Badhwar.
