Art Rotterdam creates opportunities through its various zones, such as the Duo spaces shown here. It allows artists to engage with one another and complement each other’s work. This is certainly true of Sakir Khader & Alejandro Galvan, whose stories of violence, suffering, pain and hope complement one another
Sakir Khader NL 1990
Sakir Khader is a Palestinian-Dutch documentary photographer and filmmaker. His work primarily focuses on the relationship between life and death in conflict zones, particularly in the Middle East.
In 2022, he won the Silver Camera Award for his photograph of an eleven-year-old Afghan boy selling his kidney to buy food for his family. He also won the Silver Camera Award in 2023 for his photo series Life in the West Bank Before October 7. Khader is known for his raw yet intimate cinematic signature style, always seeking to illuminate the poetic sorrows of everyday life. The quality of Khader’s work is internationally crowned by being accepted in 2024 as nominee by the prestigious Magnum agency. As such fans of Khader’s work can support him & documentary photography: https://store.magnumphotos.com/products/magnum-square-print-odyssey-sakir-khader
Alejandro Galván Mx 1990
Galván is known for his large scale paintings of watercolour, ink, charcoal and wax paint on wood and cement that depict rich pictorial scenes. Galván’s nonlinear narrational panoramas reference the cityscape of The State of Mexico that comprises several municipalities on the outskirts of the centre of Mexico’s capital. These are areas that have always had a complex history of governmental neglect, violence and marginalisation. Galván combines pre-Hispanic visual language and Mexican mythology with Catholic imagery. Tokens of popular culture are placed together with medieval bestiaries and newspaper coverage of disturbing scenes combined with intimate portraits of the artist’s family and neighbours. Alejandro Galván is a painter who lives and works in Nezahualcóyotl, the most populated and dense area of Mexico City.
Now to be seen at the gallery Bring on the Dancing Horses with Arto Vanhasselt, Bin Koh, Hend Samir, Josefin Arnell, Krystel Geerts, Mia Chaplin, Sakir Khader and Tobias Thaens.till Apr 6, 2026
John Devos
johndevos.photo (a) gmail.com
