Artists fleeing persecution and war and their fellows join Artists at Risk (AR)’s Virtual Viewing Room at Frieze New York from May 16 – 22, 2022
The eyes of the global art collectors community are locked on Manhattan, as Frieze New York celebrates its 10th anniversary at The Shed at Hudson Yards. Over 65 world renowned galleries feature works from up and coming artists at the fair, in person and in virtual showrooms, one of which is dedicated to the international activist NGO, ARTISTS at RISK (AR).
In a statement, the directors of AR, Ivor Stodolsky and Marita Muukkonen announced the moment:
“The invitation of Artists at Risk (AR) to Frieze New York opened an incredible opportunity to showcase a whole new set of artists following the successful Solidarity Prints campaign. Our new SOLIDARITY initiative focuses on the work of the very artists those household names came together to support: AR-Residents and associated artists issuing from contexts and themes of art at risk.”
The artworks are already on display at Artists at Risk (AR)’s Viewing Room at Frieze NY at https://viewingroom.frieze.
All proceeds from the sale will go directly to support and facilitate artists and cultural workers around the world, with Ukraine-war related refugees as well as Afghan artists at risk the most prominent focus. Since 2013, Artists at Risk (AR) has hosted artists in 26 locations in 19 countries mondially, before the war in Ukraine sparked an enormous outpouring of solidarity. Hundreds of organisations opened their doors to help, while new funds are being raised to support and facilitate their safety and shelter.
Meet the artists
The artists featured at the Frieze Viewing Room include, in alphabetical order:
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Maria Alyokhina, an artist, writer, political activist and founding member of the famed punk band “Pussy Riot”. Alekhina (alt-spelling) was Artists at Risk’s first ever AR-Resident Prisoner in 2021-2022, until her recent spectacular escape from Russia.
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Babi Badalov, visual artist and poet from Lerik, Azerbaijan is resident in Paris. Aside from exhibiting at biennials and museums around the world, his works have featured in the Artists at Risk (AR) Pavilion.
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Chto Delat?, an original artistic collective founded in 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia, is collected by major western museums including MoMA. AR produced “It hasn’t Happened to Us Yet” (2016) with Chto Delat? and has also worked independently with its artist-member Nikolay Oleynikov, who is also a musician in the renowned protest band Arkady Kots. Their work has featured in the AR-Pavilion.
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Kholod Hawash, textile artist, born in Basra, Iraq. She recently exhibited at the prominent ARS 22 in Kiasma, Helsinki, which has acquired two of her works. Hawash was an AR-Resident from 2019-2021.
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Saddam Jumaily, painter, graphic artist, sculptor and lecturer, born in Basra, Iraq. Collected by the British Museum, he is showing at the upcoming Sharjah Biennial. Jumaily was an AR-Resident from 2019-2021.
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Nikita Kadan, visual artist and sculptor from Kyiv, Ukraine, whose works currently are on show at the Venice Biennale and in the European Parliament, among other venues.
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Alevtina Kakhidze, artist, writer and activist from Zhdanovka, Ukraine, whose work was recently featured in events at Bozar, Brussels and around Europe. Her activist stance had made her a prominent figure in the Ukrainian art world.
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Damian Le Bas, British artist who prior to his death was celebrated as the Romani artist of his generation. Among other prominent projects, he created the costumes and stage for Gorki Theatre’s breakthrough (and now repertoire) play, “Roma Army”. His work has been a key part of AR/PM’s initiative for a Perpetual Roma Pavilion.
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Delaine Le Bas, British artist, who is perhaps the most significant living artist of Romani background. Her work has been a key part of AR/PM’s initiative for a Perpetual Roma Pavilion as well as the AR-Pavilion.
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Issa Touma, a photographer, cinematographer and film director, from and based in Aleppo, Syria. His “9 Days from my Window in Aleppo” won the European Film Prize and the London Film Festival prize (short film) and he has been the guest of honour of Le Rencontres d’Arles photo festival.
About ARTISTS at RISK
ARTISTS at RISK (AR) is a non-profit organisation (equivalency determination as a 501c-3) active at the intersection of human rights and the arts. Since 2013, AR has built a mondial network of arts and non-profits, municipalities, states and international organizations to assist, relocate and fund artists who are at risk of persecution, oppression or fleeing war or terror. AR hosted artists in 26 locations in 19 countries globally, prior to the Ukraine war. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, currently over 500 hosting institutions have joined the platform across Europe in order relocate and support the over 800 art practitioner at risk from Ukraine, and 250 dissident artists at risk of persecution, imprisonment, torture or worse from Russia and Belarus. Most of these have signed up via our forms (found here, or on our front page), and AR has also recently launched cooperation with the Swedish SWAN network, and other national and regional networks of residences, such as the breakthrough partnership with the German national network of the Goethe Institute.
AR has assisted numerous persecuted, threatened or imprisoned artists over almost 10 years of activity, such as Pussy Riot members including Maria Alyokhina, the Vietnamese singer, artist, and political activist Mai Khoi, Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy as well as artists from Kenya to Malaysia.
Artists at Risk (AR)
www.artistsatrisk.org
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