Ahmed Umar & Mariam Elnozahy

In this episode, artist Ahmed Umar speaks with Mariam Elnozahy, researcher, writer and Artistic Director at Konsthall C, Stockholm, at CHART 2025 about material, memory, and belief.

The conversation explores Umar’s series Glowing Phalanges, presented concurrently at CHART by OSL contemporary and previously exhibited at Kunstnernes Hus and Bergens Kunsthall.

Umar reflects on growing up between Sudan and Saudi Arabia, his early training in painting, printmaking, and ceramics, and how his practice gradually shifted toward sculpture.

The discussion traces the origins of his work back to a talisman he created in 2014, opening a complex reflection on talismanic motifs in Islamic Sufi traditions - objects both spiritually charged and theologically controversial.

Together, they discuss Umar’s performance practice, including his enactment of the Sudanese bridal dance, and how these deeply personal artistic gestures can challenge colonial narratives, confront cultural expectations, and honor ancestors. Working largely alone, Umar describes his process as a form of intimate ritual—creating works that function as prayers for himself, his lineage, and the histories he carries.