Karimah Ashadu’s (b. 1985, London, UK) first institutional solo show in the UK at Camden Art Center will include a major new moving image commission, produced with Fondazione In Between Art Film, and presented within a site-specific installation. Ashadu’s practice employs an intimate and singular lens to examine notions of labour, formations and perceptions of the self, masculinity, and patriarchal systems within the economic, social, and cultural context of West Africa. The exhibition is the second in Fondazione In Between Art Film’s “Unison” series—a commissioning programme for moving image-based exhibitions in collaboration with international institutions. Commissioned by Camden Art Centre and Fondazione In Between Art Film. 

Save the Date – October 3–December 28, 2025

Karimah Ashadu is awarded the “Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant” at the International Art Exhibition of the 60th Venice Biennale, with her film installation ‘Machine Boys’ (2024). 

She extends much gratitude to the Jury who explains:

“With a searing intimacy, she captures the vulnerability of young men from the agrarian north of Nigeria who have migrated to Lagos and end up riding illegal motorbike taxis. Her feminist camera lens is extraordinarily sensitive and intimate, capturing the bikers’ subcultural experience as well as their economic precarity.”

The artist thanks her family, Adriano Pedrosa and the entire Curatorial and Biennale teams, Fondazione in between Art Film – Beatrice Bulgari, Leonardo Bigazzi and Alessandro Rabottini, Moin Film Förderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Bikers, Crew and post-production teams.

The 60th International Art Exhibition runs until Sunday 24 November, 2024. Ashadu’s work can be seen in the Arsenale.

“Machine Boys” receives its world premiere at the International Medium Length and Short Film Competition of Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland.

“Machine Boys”, which also competes in the International Medium and Short film competition, premiers on the 17th April and screens again on the 19th April.

Karimah Ashadu invited to show new work at the 60^th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia curated by Adriano Pedrosa.

The 60th International Art Exhibition will take place from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November, 2024 (pre-opening on April 17, 18 and 19).

Schirn Kunsthalle’s well loved program “Double Feature”, invites Ashadu for an evening discussion and public screening of “Plateau”, as well as Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Waiting for Happiness”.

Join us on 25 Jan 2023 at 7.30pm, with Ashadu in conversation with one of the Kunsthalle’s Curators. A video interview filmed at Frankfurts’ “Palmengarten Winterlichter” is also produced by Schirn Kunsthalle.