ART HAS NO COUNTRY

What is the impact of displacement, migration and exile on artists who have been forced to leave their homes, or who have chosen to make their lives in another country?

Journalist and editor Jo Glanville talks to Iranian artist Afsoon and Iraqi artist Mahmoud Obaidi – who both explore ideas of homeland and nostalgia in their work – and to Almir Koldzic, Director of Counterpoints Arts, an organisation that works with migrant and refugee artists.

‘I believe that all countries are homelands for their inhabitants, so why should they not be homelands for me?’, says Obaidi. For Afsoon, ‘Iran lives inside me. I create and re-create it through my work.’

The two artists will reflect on the importance of memory, geography and a sense of place in their practice, as their work is showcased in a major new British Museum exhibition, Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa.

The talk will be introduced by exhibition curator Venetia Porter. It’s part of the public programme accompanying Reflections, supported by the Contemporary and Modern Middle Eastern Art (CaMMEA) acquisitions group.

To attend this online event

Book now to secure your place. We are hosting the event on Zoom – a free video conferencing system that requires users to register in advance. If you do not already use Zoom, you can sign up using this registration link.

If the event is fully booked, or you do not wish to use Zoom, you can also watch the event streamed live – as well as other events in the series – on the Museum’s live events YouTube channel.