Avan Omar, a Kurdish writer and visual artist, is participating in a group exhibition at Casco in the Netherlands with her project Art Journey. The exhibition, titled Move Not by Mind, But by Love, brings together multiple artistic approaches to explore themes of history, identity, and memory.
Omar explains that Art Journey is an interdisciplinary installation documenting how political and social changes in South Kurdistan between 1990 and 2010 shaped artistic production and cultural memory.
She is exhibiting alongside two other participants in a show that combines documentary film, podcasts, interviews, historical archives, and visual artworks, including pieces by contemporary Kurdish artists. The project connects personal narratives with major historical events such as the Gulf War, uprisings, displacement, and migration, while examining how art responds to conflict, loss, resistance, and identity.
Through interactive elements—including an open archive room, a listening space, and collaborative mapping—visitors are invited to share their own perspectives, turning the exhibition into a dynamic and evolving platform for storytelling.
The exhibition will open on 11 April 2026 at Casco in the Netherlands and will run for four days.
Avan Omar was born in Sulaymaniyah and currently lives in the Netherlands. She graduated in 2004 from the Fine Arts Institute of Sulaymaniyah, where she studied painting. Since then, she has developed a range of projects in both visual art and writing.
