«When I draw what I see, I touch the thing I am looking at with my mind [...] but it is as if my hand is caressing its outline.» —Siri Hustvedt
I was asked by colleague Jeanette Christensen and Anne Marit Austbø to show and help students how to investigate the possibility of using portraits / drawings as a tool for political means, in this case to highlight the situation of imprisoned writers in Azerbaijan.
Kunstnere
Shwan Dler Qaradaki
Lykourgos Porfyris
Jeannette Christensen
Anne Marit Austbø
Terje Nicolaisen
Hans Adell
Erla Audunsdottir
Julia Alfe Bylund
Øyvor Hansen Engen
Therese Frisk
Aksel Octavius Norreen Hauklien
Amanda Hårsmar
Heidi Klemetsen
Anna Knappe
Kachun Lay
Janne Maria Lysen
Anna Sofie Mathiasen
Nasim Iranpour Mashak
Elisabeth Samstad
Erle Saxegaard
Love Terins
Linnea Vestre
Morten Jensen Vågen
Suzannah Rehell Øistad
Kuratert av
Rikke Komissar
Tor Arne Samuelsen
"The artist Terje Nicolaisen also takes part in the project. With drawings that depict Norwegian and Azerbaijani persons who actively make use of their freedom of speech, he points to the discriminatory treatment of similar actions. For while the Norwegian persons are honoured for their critical approach to political situations and thus reveal events contrary to human rights, the Azerbaijani activists are imprisoned if their statements are in opposition to what the regime sees as beneficial."
«When I draw what I see, I touch the thing I am looking at with my mind [...] but it is as if my hand is caressing its outline.» —Siri Hustvedt
To draw presupposes that you devote time to what or who you are drawing. Consequently, «to draw is to see». In the project Drawing for Freedom imprisoned human rights activists in Azerbajian are in focus, people that the regime prefers to keep hidden in order to keep up appearances.
By insisting on exposing those who are invisible, Drawing for Freedom assumes a rather actionist approach. The project was initiated by Anne Marit Austbø, who together with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo and Professor Jeannette Christensen, invited to the workshop «Drawing as a political tool». 20 students and several artists have taken part in the extensive project, and the exhibition boasts a selection of works ranging from classic portraits of the imprisoned activists to works that in a broader sense deal with Azerbaijan as a nation. Thus, the socio-political conditions are highlighted on many different levels.
Drawing for Freedom includes the enormous work House of Government by Elisabeth Samstad and Aksel Octavius Norreen Hauklien. After first making a depiction of the building in lino print, they transferred the motif to a enormous banner and installed it on the art centre’s façade, thus drawing parallels to both the government building as a symbol, but also to the regime’s extensive use of textiles covering whole buildings as a quick fix when freshening up the architecture before big public events.
In he exhibition we also find a series of paintings, portraying the president’s wife. The images are from a tv-interview in which the first lady had just opened an exhibition on behalf of the regime. The exhibition had the title Land of Tolerance, and when a critical journalist confronted her with this, referring to the lack of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan, he was told to do better research. The artist behind the paintings is Linnea Vestre, and she also shows portraits of the political prisoners Rasul Jafarov, Anar Mammadli and Khadija Ismayilova.
Another form of portraying can be seen in the works signed Amanda Hårsmår, where she with the help of drawing and textile weave makes representations of the political prisoners. The patterns in the textile and drawings are based on patterns from the prisoner’s clothes, but the textile also references Azerbaijan’s textile tradition.
References to the textile tradition are also evident in the works by Suzannah Rehell Øistad, who presents to large lino prints. The complex motifs depict the president, the people, and the political prisoners, alongside a visualisation of the oil industry and symbols from Azerbaijani textile tradition.
The neon piece The Biggest Mistake of My Life is by professor Jeannette Christensen at the Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo, with which she highlights the story of activist Shahin Novruzlu. At the age of 17 he was accused of possession of drugs and sentenced to six years in prison, thus being the youngest ever political human rights activist being imprisoned. After 19 months he was released, after having to confess in letter’s form that he had never been, nor would ever be, member of any political organization.
The artist Terje Nicolaisen also takes part in the project. With drawings that depict Norwegian and Azerbaijani persons who actively make use of their freedom of speech, he points to the discriminatory treatment of similar actions. For while the Norwegian persons are honoured for their critical approach to political situations and thus reveal events contrary to human rights, the Azerbaijani activists are imprisoned if their statements are in opposition to what the regime sees as beneficial.
Each of the different projects in the exhibition reveals and touches upon both political aspects in Azerbaijan as well as the individual activist’s destinies. A personal approach is probably most concrete in the works of Janne Maria Lysen who came into direct contact with an imprisoned activist. By going through a defence lawyer she sent requests asking if the political prisoners would portray themselves, simultaneously attaching her own and other participant’s self-portraits in the letters. After some time she got a reply from one of the prisoners, who after failing the first two times finally was able to send a letter from the prison. The letter can be seen in the exhibition, alongside stamps of a drawing of a sun – a drawing that was enclosed in the letter that Lysen received from the activist.
The project Drawing for Freedom has among other places been showed in the town hall in Paris, and at the event Defender’s Day in Stockholm. The Norwegian Europe Delegation is currently applying for the exhibition to be shown in the European Council, Strasbourg. The presentation in Akershus Art Centre is the only one in Norway.
Drawing for Freedom is supported by Fritt Ord.
