No Lithium, No Work is Jafri’s first solo show in Denmark for more than a decade. The exhibition presents newly commissioned works alongside a selection of Jafri’s previous artworks, none of which have been previously shown in the country. An important focus of the exhibition – as reflected by its title – is the importance of lithium today; how it is used as both a treatment for mood disorders, and as the main component in rechargeable batteries, which now power everything from electric cars and smartphones to laptops and solar panels. In referring to lithium’s dual function and characteristics, Jafri focuses on the three interlocking forms of labour in the modern world – creative, reproductive, and industrial – while simultaneously investigating mental health and consumer culture through a global lens.

Kindly be aware that this exhibition contains challenging imagery that some might find upsetting, inappropriate for children. Parental and visitor discretion is advised. Thank you for understanding.

Artworks created between 2011 and 2023 are displayed in three galleries on the ground floor of Kunsthal Aarhus. First, we encounter Jafri’s two newest creations – No Lithium, No Work (2023) and Love Reborn (2023) – in Gallery 1. Consisting of video, objects, photographs, and texts, No Lithium, No Work deals with the ambivalence of lithium that might amplify questions relating to individual symptoms, mental health, and collective crises in contemporary society. The two-channel video Love Reborn – which has been produced using found footage and audio materials – highlights the centrality of women’s work in what is (allegedly) an age of automation.

In a constellation with these new artworks, Jafri’s earlier examinations of other aspects of capitalism are shown in Galleries 2 and 3. In Gallery 2, Avalon (2011), Schools/Hospitals/Prisons (2012), Wellness-Postindustrial Complex (2017), and Hi Maryam (2021) highlight significant themes relating to sexuality, labour, commodity, and wellness culture. Gallery 3 hosts Home Office ft. Angola, Iraq, Vietnam, Vicodin (2021) accompanied by The Everyday Model (2021), which allow us to deliberately contemplate today’s world of pharmacological support, and furthermore an illusion of simulacrum in the era of mass media and the rise of social media.

Maryam Jafri (b. 1972, USA), lives and works in Copenhagen. For the past twenty years, she has worked across varied media including video, sculpture, and photography, with a specific interest in questioning the cultural and visual representations of historical and political economy and their impact on our quotidian experience. Jafri’s practice draws upon diverse traditions from literature and theater to the movements of Pop and Conceptual Art, often overlaid with a pointed, darkly humorous tone.
Notable solo shows have been held in important museums and art institutions internationally such as, among others, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (A Broad and Narrow Point, 2021); Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (I Drank the Kool-Aid but I Didn’t Inhale, 2019); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (Automatic Negative Thought, 2019); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (Meditation Square, 2016); and Kunsthalle Basel (Generic Corner, 2015). She has participated in group shows at Munchmuseet, Oslo (Munch Triennial, 2021); Museum of Contemporary Art, Palermo (Blocks, 2020); MACBA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona (Undefined Territories, 2019); Athens Biennale (2018); Riga Biennial (2018); FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2018); São Paulo Art Biennial (2016) and Belgian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale (2015), among others.

Exhibition manager: Seolhui Lee, Kunsthal Aarhus.

Curators: Seolhui Lee & Diana Baldon.

The exhibition is generously supported by:
Danish Arts Foundation
Aarhus Municipality
Det Obelske Familiefond
Beckett-Fonden
Augustinusfonden
Knud Højgaard Fond
Hoffmann and Husmans Fond