THE ART OF SIN
Filmforum Ludwig Ticketshop
Ahmed Umar is a successful young artist from Sudan who has been living and working in Norway as a political refugee for the last 10 years. Because of his homosexuality, Ahmed was forced to flee his homeland, a country which, though it abolished the death penalty for homosexual activity in 2020, still punishes it with up to seven years in prison. In 2015, Ahmed was targeted by members of the Sudanese community after coming out publicly on Facebook, and soon discovered that Norway isn’t completely safe for queer immigrants either. Despite his success, Ahmed longs to go home to Sudan.
THE ART OF SIN Direction: Ebrahim Mursal, DCP, OF m. engl. UT, 60 min
Guest
Ahmed Umar (born 1988) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Oslo, Norway. He graduated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts with a bachelor’s degree in Printmaking (2011–2014), followed by a master’s degree in Fine Art, specializing in medium- and material- based art (2014–2016).
Umar’s work is informed by his conservative upbringing in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, and often highlights the repercussions of existing outside of social and cultural norms. He uses his personal experiences as tools to discuss the silencing, demonizing and compromising of queer lives in both the Sudanese and international context.