Miart
Tarek Lakhrissi, Josèfa Ntjam, Karim Boumjimar (shared presentation with TINA, London)
04.03.25 - 06.04.25NıCOLETTı is pleased to participate in MiART, Milan, with new works by Karim Boumjimar, Tarek Lakhrissi, and Josèfa Ntjam, in a shared presentation with TINA, London. This collaboration brings together three artists whose practices explore themes of identity, queerness, resistance, and transformation through a range of media. Together, Boumjimar, Lakhrissi and Ntjam’s works engage in a dialogue that reflects on history, fiction, and contemporary social structures, offering a compelling and multifaceted exploration of identity and ideas of emancipation.
Tarek Lakhrissi’s practice spans poetry, film, sculpture, and installation, centering on queer and diasporic perspectives. His work borrows from literature and pop culture to discuss socio-political narratives, creating emotionally charged experiences. At MiArt, Lakhrissi will present a series of coloured drawings that mark a new phase in his artistic exploration—one that embraces a more physical and material approach. These intuitive, hand-made works feature alien and superhero-like characters, a pantheon of queer angels and demons whose horns and tails reflect his ongoing interest in fantasy and eroticism as pathways to transformation and liberation.
Josèfa Ntjam will present a series of intricate photomontages that revisit colonial history through the lenses of mythology, natural processes, and science fiction. Ntjam’s work merges archival photography with AI-generated imagery and microscopic views of organic materials, creating opulent and layered compositions. Her photomontages, printed on paper and encased in a double perspex bonding, evoke movement and depth, collapsing the micro and macro to draw parallels between historical events and natural phenomena. Through her speculative visual language, Ntjam reimagines the interconnectedness of nature and human resilience, invoking water’s fluidity as a model for resistance and adaptation.
Karim Boumjimar’s work challenges societal hierarchies and explores the intersections of nature, culture, and identity. Through performance, ceramics, drawing, and painting, Boumjimar develops a visual language that confronts complex social narratives, particularly those surrounding queer identity and experience. The vibrant, intricate drawings—executed in crayon, ink, and paint—depict intertwined figures in chaotic compositions that speak poetically to ideas of resistance and transformation. Boumjimar often uses water as a motif for the fluidity of gender and social structures, creating evocative depictions of defiance and intimacy.
This shared presentation highlights an unexpected synergy between the three artists. Their collective exploration of race, fiction, and queer identity is deeply tied to notions of fluidity—whether bodily, conceptual, or environmental. Lakhrissi’s focus on visceral bodily fluids (following two recent solo exhibitions at NiCOLETTi and TINA titled Spit and Swallow respectively), Ntjam’s vision of submerged civilizations, and Boumjimar’s metaphorical use of water as social liquidity each offer distinct yet interconnected perspectives on identity and community. Through their varied yet complementary practices, Boumjimar, Lakhrissi, and Ntjam propose a multi-layered reading of contemporary existence, where identity is continually shaped by movement, history, and the spaces in between. Their works, rich in political and poetic undertones, invite audiences to reflect on new forms of belonging and resistance.