What if Life Were Black and White: An Interview with Behjat Omer Abdulla

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jinte.6.1.0004
• Published date: 11 November 2022
• Date: 11 November 2022
• Pages: 41-50
• Author: Behjat Omer,Meriwan Abdullah
• Subject Matter: Kurdish art,Kurdish diaspora,What if Life is Black and White,From a Distance,River of Light,Iraqi Kurdistan,intersectionality,conflict

Journal of Intersectionality

41DOI: 10.13169/jinte.6.1.0004

What if Life Were Black and White: An Interview with Behjat Omer Abdulla

Behjat Omer

Artist, G othenburg, Swede n

Interviewed by Meriwan A bdulla h

Artist, G eorgia, United Stat es

Abstract: Artist Behjat Omar Abdulla discusses his most recent projects, What if Life is Black and White

and From a Distance. These works focus on reecting on identity, belonging, migration, and citizenship,

along with the founding of Abdulla’s River of Light project.

Keywords: Kurdish art, Kurdish diaspora, What if Life is Black and White, From a Distance, River of Light, Iraqi

Kurdistan, intersectionality, conict

Meriwan Abdullah (MA): Thank you for taking the time to talk with me and for contributing to

this journal issue. Can you tell me a little bit about what you are working on now?

Behjat Omer Abdullah (BOA): Thank you very much for the opportunity of doing this

interview. I am very happy that we are nally getting into the practical part of this interview.

MA: We absolutely had to have you in this journal issue! Your essay “Performing in a Space

Between Art and Life” that appeared in “Making Faces: Art and Intersectionality” was powerful.

Since its publication, there have been many people who read your story of eeing Iraq and the

challenges you faced crossing the border, on foot, into Turkey, who were really very moved and very

afraid for you.

BOA: Thank you. In regard to your question, for the past few years, this is going back to before the

pandemic, but ocially in April 2019 I was invited by Eva Eriksdotter, the director of the Borås

Museum of Modern Art, to have a solo show at the museum.1 After a few meetings and discussing

ideas for the show, we set a date for the show. However, because of the pandemic, the museum had

to postpone the show until 2022.

Right now, I’m preparing for an exhibition called, W hat if Life is Black and White. I’m at

the planning stages of the show, deciding which work I should include. I think I am going to be

selecting a few of my previous projects, mainly drawings, to be included, but I will also include one

video installation. In addition to these pieces, I have made a few new pieces of work for the show.

I think it’s all coming together nicely.

1 Boras Konstmuseum. https://boraskonstmuseum.se/english/boras-museum-of-modern-art.html.