Summary

In the multi-media installation Er Kraait Geen Haan Naar [No One Cares], Narges Mohammadi depicts her childhood memories of poverty and her flight from Kabul as a fragile landscape of ruins. Her work shows how poverty leaves lasting marks on the body, memory and perception of time. At the same time, she critiques the political and economic systems that perpetuate poverty and undermine human dignity.

Info

What becomes of memories that have lost their place? They wander around like shadows, hidden in the depths of our memory where the past and reunion coincide.Narges Mohammadi presents a total installation drawing on her early childhood in Kabul. She fled Afghanistan with her family when she was four years old, escaping the war and poverty that were slowly destroying her homeland. What remains are fragments of memories from that time, fleeting like recurring dreams that disappear, leaving behind an oppressive feeling.

Brick by brick, Mohammadi rebuilds the architecture of poverty. Her sculptures, made from sand, alabaster and flour, resemble a landscape of ruins: fragile, hardened and broken. Her work illustrates how poverty shapes people, leaving an indelible mark on their minds and bodies. It affects time and space. The present shrinks and the future fades, leaving darkness imprisoned in the memory of the senses and reflected here in narrow, damp spaces.

At the same time, the ruins reveal the poverty of the system: invisible foundations of power. Political, economic and social structures that perpetuate poverty, disguised as order. Policies that prioritise control and profit over human welfare. They force people to be strong without offering real solutions. This is akin to the conflict symbolised by an egg: to eat it now or nurture it in the hope of further future nourishment if it hatches. The system feeds hunger, but not life. An architecture that destroys homes and removes dignity.

By shaping the traces of her memories, Mohammadi reveals what is usually hidden: silent echo chambers of poverty.

Written by Rubiah Balsem.

To those

To those who speak the language of poverty

Trapped in a world of loss 

To those with hunger deep in their veins

Who still get up every day

To those who have to choose between bread or books

While travelling miles between counters 

To those who see beauty in the everyday

Even when damp walls close in on them

To those who hold their heads high

As life pulls them towards the abyss 

To those who do not deserve these fights

Written by Narges Mohammadi

With thanks to

Texts

Exhibition texts: Rubiah Balsem

Artwork texts: Yannik Güldner

Translation: Puck Kroon

Sand

Carver: Martin TedderAdvice execution: Maxim Gazendam

Assistant carver: Szu-Yi Wang

Assistant compacting: Toran Wolstencroft

Transport: Harteman B.V.

Loam Reliëfs

CNC: Florian Lieuwe

Production assistant: Haevn Aalbersberg

Film

Camera and edit: Rik Komáromi

Light: Nando Dullaart

Assistant director: Cosmo Davis Gimeno

Sound design: Cosmo Schueppel

Assistant: Mas Snoek

Directed and produced: Narges Mohammadi

Producer Studio Narges Mohammadi: Alexander Köppel

Producer Brutus: Guus Voorham

Light assistance: Luca Tornato Serafini

All artworks are courtesy of the artist and Copperfield, London

Supported by

Municipality of Rotterdam

Mondriaan Fund

Zabawas Foundation

Volkskracht

Foundation for Women by Women

Elise Mathilde

Niemeijer Fund Foundation