For the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, titled NIRIN, Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama created an immersive installation titled after Behrouz Boochani’s 2018 book, No Friend but the Mountains – a harrowing account of the Kurdish-Iranian journalist’s lived experience as an asylum seeker imprisoned for six years on Manus Island.
This exclusive “In Conversation” brings together Ibrahim Mahama and Behrouz Boochani for the first time for a one-hour webinar to explore the relationship between their works.
Associate Professor Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish-Iranian writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. His book, No Friend but the Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature, the NSW Premier’s Award 2019, and the National Biography Award 2019. Behrouz Boochani was recently granted refugee status in New Zealand after six years in a detention centre on Manus Island.
Ibrahim Mahama is a Ghanaian artist and writer. Along with his installation for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney titled No Friend but the Mountains, Mahama’s work has also appeared in numerous international exhibitions including Ghana’s first national pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019; the Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2019); and, Documenta 14.
Elaine Pearson is the Australia Director at Human Rights Watch. Pearson holds degrees in law and arts and obtained her Master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University. She has worked for the United Nations and various non-government organisations. She writes frequently for a range of publications and her articles have appeared in national and international media outlets. She is also an adjunct lecturer in law.
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Human Rights Watch investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. They are roughly 450 people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime to refugees and children in need.
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