Utställning ”Inside, I hide my Happiness”

About the project
How can art be a therapeutic trajectory for artists and a powerful tool for improving our lives within the context of our suffering world? Our world has agonizing wars, pandemics, economic vulnerabilities and ecosystem failures. Yet, do we still believe art can create change when feelings of despair dominate our thoughts? Can we dare to think of our inner power as a form of action against this global collapse?

Since 2017, I have curated a series of projects on art as therapy. The artists in these projects create art as a reflection of their experiences. They challenge themselves and others by producing artwork on healing that evokes a life worth living. When first started curating the concept of art as therapeutic, the world had not yet faced the universal pain of the pandemic. Then I revisited this concept during the pandemic to show artists working during a time of isolation, separation, and death. So, I curated their artwork as a mobile exhibition for elderly in-home care. The show was presented inside a box. The idea was to provide positive energy through art.

The mobile exhibition motivated a new project – Inside, I hide my Happiness – using boxes to challenge new thoughts about the optimistic energy exchange between artists and viewers. The artists in the project explore the idea of Happiness—the highest purpose of individuals—in reference to Aristotle’s quotation, ”Happiness depends upon ourselves.” Each artist uses the box as a format to create and contain their personal story. In this sense, the box acts as a symbolic body. It embraces an inner world that holds, hides, and reflects life’s pain, hope, and Happiness. 

The project seeks to provide an encounter with Happiness by presenting artworks as magical boxes, each filled with different stories. The boxes reveal a sense of how Happiness varies between individuals and how the desires for happiness change over time. The resulting exhibition affirms the expression of Happiness within a small intimate space within a larger public space.  

• Can artists provide a glimpse into an inner world that sparks a ray of Happiness, which evolves into a more positive perspective on life?
• When we speak about art and Happiness, does a ”beautiful” work evoke Happiness, or does Happiness evolve through art that challenges our mind in more profound directions? 
• Can art generate thoughts and energy in meaningful ways to create a better world? 

Abir Boukhari

The project supported by Kulturrådet – Stockholm Stad