Nisrine Boukhari (Damascus/Vienna)

  • April 1, 2015 – April 30, 2015

Nisrine Boukhari was selected by MAWA from among thirty-nine applicants from all over the globe. She was originally scheduled to come in December 2014, but due to the intricacies of obtaining a visa as a Syrian citizen, her residency has been postponed until April. She will be delivering a First Friday Lecture on Friday April 10.

Since leaving Damascus, Syria, in September 2012, Nisrine Boukhari has written daily notes to the city she left. These text fragments position her in relation to her former home. Together, they form a personal case study of the city in conflict, a psycho-geographic map of a city from the perspective of exile. She will discuss her work and that of other Syrian artists.

While in residence at MAWA, April 1-30, 2015, Boukhari will continue to work with notions of displacement and “wanderism,” a state of mind that is not about being lost but creating a new road with no beginning or end.

  • Nisrine Boukhari is a mixed media and installation artist based in Vienna. In her work, she uses psychogeography (the laws and specific effects of the geographical environment on the emotions and behaviour of individuals) to explore our relationship to inner and domestic spaces. Principles of colour and light therapy often underline the interactive nature of her installations. She studied sculpture at the University of Damascus and finished her MA in Social Design at the Angewandte Kunst (University of Applied Arts, Vienna). She has participated in residencies in London and New York City, and has exhibited internationally. In 2009 she received an honourable mention award at the Asian Art Biennale (Bangladesh).