Artists at Risk (AR) is pleased to welcome AR-Porvoo at Taidetehtaan taiteilijaresidenssi / Konstfabriksens konstnärsresidens / The Art Factory Artist-in-Residence, to the AR-Network.
The AR-Porvoo Art Factory Residency is located on the western banks of the Porvoo River in the Culture and Congress Center Art Factory. Approximately 20 artists and creatives work in the building and the Art Factory also hosts three exhibition spaces: Porvoo Art Hall, Gallery Fikka and Kulma. The Art Factory is an almost century-old industrial site, and was opened in its current form in 2012. AR-Porvoo joined the wider Artists at Risk (AR)-Network in Feburary 2021 with its first AR-Residents Kholod Hawash and Saddam Jumaily piloting the new residency.
New AR-Residencies have been joining AR from across Finland, funded by courageous and caring municipalities who stand together with Artists at Risk (AR) for human rights and the freedom of expression.
The artists’ residence consists of a workspace and living space. The flat (which includes an open kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and shower) has a floor area of 56 m², and the workspace has a floor area of 31 m² and a high ceiling suited for larger scale works.
Saddam Jumaily, Angela Aldebs, Kholod Hawash, Sini Kallio and Henrik Lindqvist (left to right) at AR-Hietsun Paviljonki during the visit and reviews at AR’s studios by the Porvoo Art Hall / City of Porvoo cultural services in 2020.
The first AR-Porvoo residents are Kholod Hawash and Saddam Jumaily. Hawash is a self-taught textile artist from Basra, Iraq whose work focuses on the heritage and archaeological landscapes of her homelands, as well as women’s experiences in the world. Hawash’s work has been featured In Finland and Europe in solo and group exhibitions. Jumaily is a renowned artist and critic from Basra, Iraq whose paintings and sculptures relate to nostalgia, memory and the strange in the mundane. Jumaily’s work has been shown across the Middle East and Finland in solo and group exhibitions and he has worked as an editor and writer at numerous Arabic-language arts publications.
The Art Factory Artist-In-Residence programme was established in the autumn of 2018 and is maintained and funded by the cultural services of the City of Porvoo. The programme is supported by the Art Factory Foundation.
The AR-Porvoo programme is funded by the City of Porvoo, and coordinated by Perpetuum Mobile (PM) as part of the AR-Network.
