Cia Kanthi: Dark Light
Sven and Ellida Hjort’s grant exhibition 

March 27–April 25, 2021

Opening hours
Wed–Fri, 13–17
Sat–Sun, 13–16
A maximum of 8 visitors will be allowed in the gallery at a time.

Skånes konstförening proudly presents Dark Light a solo exhibition by Cia Kanthi.

What is reality? Is it the state of things that actually exist or perhaps the pulse of that which remains hidden, untouched and undiscovered? In this exhibition, Cia Kanthi turns the gaze towards hidden places through photography, film, sculpture and installation, hauntingly interrogating our conceptions of reality. Crackling sounds, gushing waves, stillness, fast-paced speed and manipulated light, engulf the gallery leaving an itch, a burn, a feeling of perpetual yearning. Through technology she steers history in her direction and conjures a sensory experience.

In the artist’s words:

Dark Light is an artwork divided in chapters that wanders between the city streets and into my own memory gaps. I have no memories from my own birth town. The artwork Dark Light is driven from my curiosity for blackouts in stories but also the photograph itself as a medium. Both photography and history originate from a physical place. They also have the likeness that they frame something. In a story, there will always be some parts that are untold and in the photograph the viewer will only see what the camera lens lets us see, the other part of the landscape remains hidden. These framings and untold stories fascinate and frighten me.

The title Dark Light, comes from the light of daydreaming, when making dinner, putting away dishes, from the light in the process in the darkroom when ideas meet physical material, and from the outside when a free zone lights up the urban landscape. In the chapter Flying Birds the car becomes a sanctuary of sorts – which like a story moves differently, depending on where you are going. If you live in Malmö, the roads by dusk come to life with people from all around the world, moving vessels in their own rhythm through the darkness – a microcosm within the historical city. In Dark Light the memory gaps are not seen as a dead-end, instead the darkness, the silent and the unknown are something living – just waiting to be awakened.

Cia Kanthi (b. 1984) is an artist who lives and works in Malmö, Sweden. She holds a Masters and Bachelor in Fine Art from the Malmö Art Academy. Central to her work is the way that memories travel between the mind and the world of objects, how history is written and what gets left out. Kanthi works with varied mediums including sculpture, film and photography. She has recently exhibited at Konstnärshuset (2020), Eric Ericsonhallen (2020), Skissernas Museum (2019), Copenhagen Art Week (2019), The Centre for Photography (2017).

Curator: Tawanda Appiah.

Cia Kanthi is the 2020 recipient of the Sven and Ellida Hjort’s Exhibition Grant. The grant is awarded annually by Skånes konstförening to an emerging artist based in Skåne. Hanni Kamaly was the first recipient of the grant in 2017, followed by LealVeileby (artist duo consisting of António Leal and Jesper Veileby) in 2018, and Ikram Abdulkadir in 2019. The recipient is chosen by a jury appointed by the board of Skånes konstförening. The 2020 jury consisted of Tawanda Appiah (independent curator and writer) and board members; Lena Bergendahl (artist), Lucy Smalley (artist, pedagogue) and Jonelle Twum (producer).