This journal is created to help me document, reflect and credit those people, institutions and places I encounter in my creative journey. I’ve met many people from whom I’ve learned so much. So many places, moments and interactions have inspired me on a personal and a professional level. It’s very important to document those interactions in some way. It’s also a way to credit and acknowledge those who have shaped who I am. The journal will also feature other reflections and analyses of past and present issues I often deal with in my practice. As an oral culture, we often feel like we have not been able to document our knowledge and life. Sometimes we also blame others when they produce something about us. Well, this is one such space where we can write down our own history and present it ourselves; how we witness it and how we want it to be shared. Today’s encounters are tomorrow’s history. I want to write my own history, so hopefully this journal will be one way to do so. Encounters is an online journal written by Saharawi artist and writer Mohamed Sleiman Labat and published by Motif Art Studio.
𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼
March 4th, 2024, Luleå, northern Sweden
A journey through the lens of a Sahrawi artist coming from a completely different environment and landscape. So what did I see as I come to Luleå, the northest place I have ever reached? Well, I am surprised by many things and this is just the surface of what I was able to observe during this short visit to this incredible landscape. Encountering the cold is already very challenging, but walking on the ice and frozen water brought a deep change to something as basic in me as walking, I had to adjust my walking to a new style (Penguin Style) As I slowly walk on the frozen sea, I can see air bubbles trapped under the ice. And although it’s close to the surface of the sea, it gives me a glimpse about the gases trapped under the ice. These bubbles will soon be free, this is not a problem, the problem is in other more dangerous gases trapped under the ice for hundreds of years. As the climate changes and the temperatures rise, ice melts and those gases are released into the atmosphere and god knows what such ancient secrets would bring with them…
As a species we are walking on thin ice…
May, 2024
Tents have served as primary dwellings of Sahrawi people during their nomadic past. Today, as refugees, these tents continue to play a vital role, both as shelter and as a space for communal living in the desert environment. At the heart of the exhibition at Konsthallen Kulturens hus Luleå, one of these tents becomes a gateway to immerse oneself in Sahrawi narratives. During the biennial opening and closing days, Sleiman Labat and Niskanen utilize this space to share Sahrawi rituals, stories, and ongoing artistic research, fostering dialogue and collaborative learning with visitors. As the biennial draws to a close, the tent will move outside to Luleå City Park where a tea ceremony will take place.
Artists: Mohamed Sleiman Labat & Pekka Niskanen
⇝ Curators: Aude Christel Mgba & Bruno Alves de Almeida
⇝ Production/Production: Konstfrämjandet Norrbotten
Med Supported by/With support by: Kone Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Oskar Öflund Stiftelse
Attending the closing program of Luleåbiennalen
It can be shocking how two different landscapes can meet, the desert and the sea, but the processes and realities altering these two different landscapes are shockingly similar, processes of mineral extraction, rare earth mining, technological advancement at the expense of indigenous territories and practices. The Western Sahara is rich with phosphate rocks extracted and shipped to other parts of the world, without the consent of the Saharawi people. The Saharawi people who are the indigenous inhabitants of the region, are now displaced in refugee camps in Algeria. A number of tech companies seeking cooler spots for data storage and rare earths are moving to northern Sweden, this land is the Sapmi land, the land of the indigenous Sami people whose reindeer traditions and herding routes are being impacted by wind power technologies and plants.
It is absolutely wonderful, and very important, to bring the story and realities of the Sahrawi people to a conversation with processes in the north.
The Sahrawi tent at Konsthallen Kulturens Hus, Luleå and the Sandoponic Garden Havremagasinet, Boden resonated a lot with other conversations and discussions of issues of extraction of natural resources and their impact on indigenous communities worldwide.
More info on this project can be found here:
https://www.luleabiennalen.se/en/2024/participants/phosfate
End of this issue of the journal. Click on the link below to access other issues available on the journal webpage.
Disclaimer:
Reflections, impressions and comments expressed in this journal are the artist’s views and interpretations. They don’t necessarily reflect the opinion of the people and institutions visited by the artist. The artist is committed to conveying the notions of those encounters as accurately as possible, but if those who are mentioned here think otherwise, I am happy to correct any misunderstanding resulting from misquotation or misinterpretation of those encounters. For any corrections and clarification, please contact us here: contact@motifartstudio.com
encounters Journal is published by Motif Art Studio. Click here to access the other issues.