We are proud to welcome Samaneh Roghani as resident in August 2021. For some, resistance to power is mainly a theoretical exercise. For Samaneh Roghani, it is a life-changing experience, and a bearing theme in Roghanis own artistic practice. Oppression in the public and political arena always ends in the personal and private experience. Roghani explores this mechanism and puts personal experiences into public display.

If practical head-on resistance to power risks confirming or even strengthening power’s structural grip, exposing power’s personal implications might instead transform vulnerability into strength. Samaneh Roghani takes oppression as personal as it in fact is. Through exposing vulnerability and fear, Samaneh reveals oppression’s deep and life-changing implications to the private life.

”Fear is a feeling that I have lived with, ever since I decided how I want to live my life, and learned my rights as a woman. Where these matters can’t be taken for granted, attaining them is a struggle.” (Samaneh Roghani)

Samaneh Roghani (b. 1984) is an Iranian artist based in Malmö, Sweden. She has a Bachelor of Photography from Azad University in Tehran. A BFA and an MFA from Malmö Art Academy.

Roghani weaves together personal stories with universal narratives about people struggling for a better life. There is opposition, resistance, and migration in the face of fear, ostracism, and oppression.

Roghani uses a variety of media and techniques, including photography and video. Entangling her personal experience by reproducing self-portraits in the very fabric of her works.

Focusing on installations that give the audience a multi-sensory experience by combining visual, auditory, and tactile elements. Creating powerful immersive experiences to convey an understanding of the conditions of our contemporary societies.

This residency is curated by UNICORN – Artists in Solidarity in Malmö part of the IA&AR Network co-funded by Nordic Culture Point with support from Malmö Konsthall and in part hosted by BRUNAKRA Temporary, coordinated by the AR-Secretariat as part of the wider Artists at Risk (AR)-Network.