During the 2026 Bergen Exchanges, researchers, scholars and students gathered at Kunsthall 3,14 for a panel on art as a form of resistance, opened by Alicia Ely Yamin. Visual artists Mona Tahani and Shwan Dler Qaradaki spoke about how their own work – carved wood, paint and print – became a way to process violence, exile and the loss of language, while Ali Teymoori, Elin Skaar and Issraa Elkogali Häggström brought in the Iranian Woman, Life, Freedom movement, Sámi resistance in Norway, and Sudan’s December Revolution.
We’ve published three pieces reflecting on these conversations:
- Art as Protest, Art as Refuge; What February 28th Left Behind — on Mona Tahani’s exhibition responding to the US–Israel strikes on Iran.
- The Importance of Language and Oppressed Identities — on Shwan Dler Qaradaki’s exhibitions Halo of Shame and From Above, and what happens to identity when a language is taken away.
- Art of Repression, Resistance, Memory & Reconciliation — the full account of the panel itself.
Together, they trace how art becomes the language people reach for when speaking plainly is too dangerous.
Read more about Shwan Dler Qaradaki´s work on his website, or check out his Instagram.
Read more about Mona Tahani´s work on her website, or check out her Instagram.