When Ahmed Umar received the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel 2024, it was a recognition long deserved. The Sudanese-Norwegian artist, born in 1988, has developed a practice that navigates between worlds – between Islam and queerness, between tradition and transgression, between the sacred and the personal.
The Artist: Navigating Between Worlds
Umar's biography is inscribed in his work. Growing up between Sufism and Wahhabism in Sudan, later finding asylum in Norway as an openly gay man, he carries multiple identities that others might consider contradictory. His art refuses such simple categorization, instead finding the spaces where seemingly opposed traditions can coexist and illuminate each other.
The Work: Prayer Beads Reimagined
His Art Basel presentation, "Glowing Phalanges/Forbidden Prayers," consisted of fifteen sculptural works arranged like prayer beads, each corresponding to a personal prayer. Using reworked tourist souvenirs and craft objects, Umar creates devotional objects for a devotion that has no official home. The work appeared simultaneously at the Venice Biennale 2024, amplifying its impact.
The Breakthrough: Baloise and Beyond
The Baloise Art Prize, worth CHF 30,000 ($34,000), includes acquisition by Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) Frankfurt. For Umar, represented by OSL Contemporary in Oslo, this represents institutional validation of work that addresses experiences rarely seen in museum collections.
Why Now? Visibility and Vulnerability
In a moment when LGBTQ+ rights face renewed threats globally, and when Islamophobia persists in Western contexts, Umar's work offers a crucial counter-narrative. He demonstrates that queer identity and religious tradition need not be enemies – that devotion takes many forms.
Conclusion: Sacred Rebellion
Ahmed Umar's rising profile signals an art world increasingly receptive to complex, intersectional identities. His work is both celebration and critique, prayer and protest.