Art Curating 

Over the years, I’ve commissioned new works and exhibitions from Roxy Farhat, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Vincent Chong, Mandhla Ndubiwa, Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, LealVeileby, Yankun Yang and Kenji Hirotomi, Yasmina Karli Malmsten and Diane elia Fushi Bekene. (All images by Lena Bergendahl.) Alongside these exhibitions, I’ve also set up collaborations and events with local and international organizations, such as Activation Residency, SWEAT, and Inter Arts Center.

As part of my curatorial program at Skånes konstförening, I also founded the Third Space Residency for QTBIPOC artists in Skåne. (More info below.)

KONST DETOX: DIGITAL SUMMER

For this series of online exhibitions, I curated a summer-long showcase of contemporary Swedish artists Jonelle Twum, Farah Yusuf, April Lin, and Edwin Safari (a.k.a. Jafar the Superstar). From AI chatbots to performance to experimental film, these artists engage a wide range of practices. These online exhibitions highlight works that explore dreams, the body, and futurity. The artists’ four works delve into the power of the imagination to redefine not just our present but spaces of solace and abstract futures.
Each month, we’ll launch a new show featuring artists around Sweden.

About Konst Detox

Konst Detox is an association/collective for people of color working in Sweden’s art field. This is a space for care, visibility, and mutual support. 
The main objective is to promote inclusion and broader representation within Sweden’s art field, particularly for people of color (POC). This includes supporting better working conditions for POC artists and art workers, as well as creating safer spaces for resting, developing, networking, and support. Konst Detox also hosts artistic activities and projects with collective processes, such as the Konst Detox Podcast.

Konst Detox is supported by the Swedish Arts Council.

SKÅNES KONSTFÖRENING

From 2020 until 2023, I served as curator at Skånes konstförening (est. 1904), an independent gallery in Malmö, Sweden. Through the selection of artists, I aimed to support local and international artists speaking from the margins. These parameters were really just search filters (e.g. BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, 1st and 2nd generation Swedes) that helped me shape the gallery as a space where we crafted the terms of the conversation, rather than exist as flavors of the week or outsiders coming in. To further normalize this focus—to make sure it felt as natural and normal as it should be—I chose not to release a statement about it, nor publish anything about this on the gallery’s own website or social media channels.

Having started during the pandemic, solo shows made up at least half of the programming. Not only did this make production safer and more feasible at the time, but it also ensured that the artists were paid meaningful amounts, i.e. rent money. The rest of this period was marked by duo exhibitions and group shows, including the yearly Third Space residency show (more info below.) Where pre-existing works were concerned, we sought to reinterpret the presentation, though most of the exhibitions were (or at least included) entirely new commissions.

Through a revamped website, marketing, and social media strategies, I spearheaded the gallery’s turn towards a more accessible platform/experience for visitors who were not able to attend events physically.

Third Space Residency for QTBIPOC artists in Skåne

I founded the Third Space Residency back in 2020, as part of my curatorial program at Skånes konstförening (2020–2023). With a focus on video and other lens-based artworks, the residency gives space to artists to create works in response to a prompt. Each year, the participants received a different prompt.

I encouraged both emerging and established artists to apply. By mixing experience levels and types, participants could (and usually did) teach each other too. External mentors led critiques and workshops. Roxy Farhat was our very first artist mentor, who helped craft the first year’s prompt of “future and power.” Since then, we’ve had Dr. Temi Odumosu, Khamlane Halsackda, Cia Kanthi, and Vincent Chong. All together, this created the perfect, synergistic environment of skill-sharing, artistic development, networking, and community.

In addition to studio space, production budget, technical assistance, and an artist fee, the participants also got to exhibit their work in a group show at the gallery.
(All images by Lena Bergendahl.)

EXHIBITION STATEMENT 2020
EXHIBITION STATEMENT 2021
EXHIBITION STATEMENT 2023

This residency is really a dream project for me. When I first came to Sweden, I felt a real lack of community and support for QTBIPOC folks—a sentiment that has since been echoed by both the participants and my peers. As people of color and LGBTQIA+, this double “otherness” can isolate and further marginalize. In terms of mental health, this can have some pretty big consequences. Professionally speaking, this can lead to talented people leaving the industry due to lack of support and/or opportunities to grow—and we, as a society, are all the poorer for it.