Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Destiny Disrupted currently on show at Griffith University Art Museum, Safdar Ahmed's Border Farce / Alien Citizen / Sovereign Murders will be the Australian debut of this group of works, developed and presented for documenta fifteen, in 2022 in Kassel, Germany.
At the centre of the exhibition is Border Farce (2022) created with Kurdish-Iranian heavy metal guitarist Kazem Kazemi and cinematographer Alia Ardon. The work includes documentary footage of Kazemi's traumatic experience at the Manus detention camp, which resulted in his evacuation to Brisbane, where he remains stateless. The footage is combined with the discordant audio-visuality of Hazeen, the anti-racist Muslim death metal band that Kazemi was invited to play alongside.
Also included are works made in collaboration with Refugee Art Project, established following Ahmed's first visit to Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in 2011.