Bio
Karíma Al-Mukhtarová (*1989) studied under the tutelage of Jiří Kovanda at the Faculty of Art and Design in Ústí nad Labem, Jiří David at the Studio of Intermedia Confrontation at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague, and Milena Dopitová at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where she graduated in 2018. She is the winner of the Essl Art Award CEE for the Czech Republic (2013). In 2019, she completed a several-month internship at CEAAC in Strasbourg, France. In 2023, she participated in the prestigious residency program Art Omi in New York. Her work deals with issues of identity and the socialization process of the individual.
Artist statement
As a conceptual, multimedia artist, I tend to combine many approaches in my works. I make mainly objects, site-specific installations, texts and performances. The main, long term leitmotif of my works are identity and tradition. My parents are foreigners and I was born and grew up in the different country than they did. I couldn't learn their tradition and history. Instead, I had to learn the Czech ones, but still, after many years, I face many misunderstandings.
I see these misunderstandings differently and I use for them term: different view. I started to learn many traditional handcrafts. These skills I use in different way - I apply my view. Partly it can be understood in my works as authenticity and partly as errors.
The second big inspiration of my works is life and people. I believe that the life itself is the strongest art. I notice the random street conversations. I choose mainly very absurd conversions and basing on them I write my stories. These stories make atmosphere of my works. Sometimes you can see it, read it, or just feel it.