28.9. – 5.11.2023
And Still I Rise

Venue:
ICAT, AtelierHaus der HFBK Hamburg

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With paintings, drawings, film and performance, the solo exhibition And Still I Rise presents the multifaceted work of the American artist Rajkamal Kahlon to the art audience in Hamburg for the first time. For over 20 years, Kahlon, who has been professor of painting at the HFBK Hamburg since 2021, has been interested in the connections between aesthetics and power, which are organized primarily through violence across historical and geographical borders. She examines ongoing consequences of colonial and ethnographic narratives. Kahlon's works have their starting point in historical photographs, books and archival materials, which she subjects to a process of disruption and transformation. The artist encounters the classifying and stereotyping representations that turn people into nameless, powerless and marginalized projection surfaces with beauty, humor and sensuality. With her artistic practice, Kahlon, who understands drawing and painting as a form of care work, resists this violent anonymization and attempts to restore humanity and individuality.

Curated by Rajkamal Kahlon and Sjusanna Eremjan.

Here you find the booklet of the exhibition.

Program

04. and 18. October 2023, 6 pm
Öffentliche Führungen mit Sjusanna Eremjan

16. - 20. October 2023, 10 am -6 pm, Aula Vorhalle
List of Deaths, Ongoing Performance

03. November 2023, 7 pm
Painting as Care –On the decolonial work on memory, Aula

Panel discussion with Prof. Rajkamal Kahlon, Femi Johnson (guest lecturer HFBK Hamburg), among others, moderated by Prof. Dr. María do Mar Castro Varela (Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin)

"Übers Schreiben reden" with Rike Scheffler at Extended Library; photo: Jana Rothe

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View into the auditorium of HFBK Hamburg; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Opening of the Graduate Show 2025; photo: Sinje Hasheider

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Pablo Torres Gómez, Earths's Ears, 2025; photo: Pablo Torres Gómez

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Maria Ignatenko, false movements, 2024, work in progress; Filmstill

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The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Open Call: Redesign Democracy - Reimagine Voting; graphic design: Konrad Renner

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Park Ficiton, Palmen Feliz Nedra, 2003; photo: Margit Czenki/Park Fiction

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Work by Atu Gelovani at the opening of the Annual Exhibition 2025 at HFBK Hamburg; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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A sculpture of a small elephant that functions as a climbing frame in a park in Hamburg

Der Elefant im (öffentlichen) Raum Hamburg

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Exhibition view on the occasion of Hiscox Art Prize 2024; photo: Tim Albrecht

Hiscox Art Prize 2024

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The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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"The New Woman - How Female Artists and Designers shaped the Image of Modernism", graphic by Liudmila Savelyeva, Karla Krey, Amira Mostafa (Klasse Digitale Grafik)

The New Woman

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Detail: Installation by Mark Morris; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Julia Scher, Territorium, 2024, installationview at ICAT of HFBK Hamburg; photo: Tim Albrecht

Finkenwerder Art Prize 2024

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Sharon Poliakine, Untitled, 2023, oil on canvas, detail

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Work by Franziska Koepsel at Annual Exhibition 2024; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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photo: Tim Albrecht

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And Still I Rise

For over 20 years, US artist Rajkamal Kahlon has been interested in the connections between aesthetics and power, which are organized across historical and geographical boundaries, primarily through violence. With this solo exhibition, the HFBK Hamburg presents the versatile work of the professor of painting and drawing to the Hamburg art public for the first time.

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photo: Miriam Schmidt / HFBK

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A disguised man with sunglasses holds a star-shaped sign for the camera. It says "Suckle". The picture is taken in black and white.

photo: Honey-Suckle Company

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Jahresausstellung 2023, Arbeit von Toni Mosebach / Nora Strömer; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Non-Knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image, Grafik: Leon Lothschütz

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Amna Elhassan, Tea Lady, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

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Merlin Reichert, Die Alltäglichkeit des Untergangs, Installation in der Galerie der HFBK; photo: Tim Albrecht

Graduate Show 2022: We’ve Only Just Begun

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Grafik: Nele Willert, Dennise Salinas

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Renée Green. ED/HF, 2017. Film still. Courtesy of the artist, Free Agent Media, Bortolami Gallery, New York, and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin/Cologne/Munich.

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Amanda F. Koch-Nielsen, Motherslugger; photo: Lukas Engelhardt

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New studio in the row of houses at Lerchenfeld, in the background the building of Fritz Schumacher; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Martha Szymkowiak / Emilia Bongilaj, Installation “Mmh”; photo: Tim Albrecht

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23 Fragen des Institutional Questionaire, grafisch umgesetzt von Ran Altamirano auf den Türgläsern der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2021; photo: Charlotte Spiegelfeld

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ASA Open Studio 2019, Karolinenstraße 2a, Haus 5; photo: Matthew Muir

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Studiengruppe Prof. Dr. Anja Steidinger, Was animiert uns?, 2021, Mediathek der HFBK Hamburg, Filmstill

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Ausstellungsansicht "Schule der Folgenlosigkeit. Übungen für ein anderes Leben" im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; photo: Maximilian Schwarzmann

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Katja Pilipenko

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