Art, Activism, Actualisation: A Discussion with Alqumit Alhamad (talk)
Date: 28 June 2018 | Venue: Paul Webley Atrium | 1200-1300
Speaker bio and abstract:
Alqumit Alhamad is a self-taught visual artist, a native of Syria, and now a refugee who has been granted residency in Sweden. His Fine Art studies in Aleppo were interrupted by the onset of civil war and the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq taking over his hometown of Raqqa. For Alhamad, not only war triggered the need to find a safe haven, but also the desire to find the right space for artistic self-expression and actualisation. Alhamad has engaged with a variety of personal causes, including LGBTQ rights, refugee and immigrant issues, gender and women, and mental illness in Malmo in order to promote ideas of equality, rights, and better integration for newcomers who seek in Sweden an alternative home, be it for reasons of war, sexual oppression, or religious and ethnic prosecution. Alhamad’s work engages with how individuals come to terms with who they are, in relation to their identities, emotions, illnesses. This talk focuses on his art and experiences and draws on themes of identity, belonging, and rights.
Sponsored by Politics and International Relations Department, University of Westminster
