Dzamil Kamanger’s works at the Borås Art Biennial 2026 are exhibited at the Art Museum. The three Bead Ryas (2023) are his interpretations of peasant rugs from the Satakunta region in Finland, in the collection of the Emil Cedercreutz Museum. A new bead rya, made for Borås during an opening performance, is based on a traditional West Götaland pattern.

The similarities between Nordic ryas and oriental carpets have long interested Kamanger. Both feature pile weaving and decorative patterns, and the same type of knot is used in the making of both textiles. Ryas and oriental carpets seem to share a distant 'ancestor', which has been transformed over time to meet the needs of local cultures.

The videos from the series Working in Public Space, made in collaboration with Kalle Hamm, show Kamanger beading his works in public. In Zagreb, Croatia (2012) Kamanger works in solidarity in front of a closed shop on a street that used to house small, traditional craft businesses, before real estate speculation priced them out. In London, UK (2014) he sits by the Kurdish Cultural Centre, beading the cover of the first Kurdish newspaper published in the Latin alphabet. In Berlin, Germany (2016) he beads the instructions from an EU travel document for refugees, in front of the construction of the new Humboldt Forum, named after German explorers with historical ties to European imperialism and industrialisation.

The exhibition also includes one of six beadworks from the series The Hypothetical New Countries. The Kurdish Passport (2017) is made using traditional Kurdish techniques, which Kamanger learnt from his older sister and has since developed to combine contemporary themes with Central Asian handicraft tradition.

Dzamil Kamanger (born 1948 in Mariwan, Iran; lives in Helsinki, Finland) explores questions of marginalisation, inclusion and exclusion through his artistic practice. His work draws on his own experiences as an Iranian Kurdish refugee by using traditional Iranian handicraft techniques. Since 1999, he has also collaborated with artist Kalle Hamm on many projects examining the linked histories of plants and migration.