Karim Boumjimar: Drawings from the Hotel | Poriginal

Karim Boumjimar’s exhibition “Drawings from the Hotel” consists of a series of drawings presented together with a set of colorfully glazed ceramic vases.

The drawings inspired by personal experiences, queer history, and theory, incorporate materials such as pigments, ink, and watercolour. These media reflect the fluidity of flesh and bodily substances, allowing the depicted bodies to emerge raw and unfiltered, forging connections with viewers while contemplating existence. Figures—female, male, and animal—appear simultaneously bound and vulnerable, locked in a chaotic dance of power and submission. The drawings in the exhibition capture the rituals and routines that fill the space between arrivals and departures—an exploration of fleeting, intimate encounters, solitary moments, and the temporary nature of existence.

The ceramic works, small vases continuing the visual language of the drawings, contain traces of touch and feel, turning these solid ceramics into organic forms. The vases are also vessels of memory (bodily memory in particular), holding imprints of bodies and spaces that exist on the margins.

Boumjimar’s work sheds light on the marginalization and oppression of queer communities. He critiques heteronormative structures that perpetuate societal and ecological harm. The drawings serve as both a reflection and a reinterpretation of fleeting moments, offering new perspectives on intimacy and transformation. The aim is to contribute to cultural discourse on identity, fostering an understanding of diverse sexual, racial, and natural identities while challenging oppressive norms.

Karim Boumjimar (b. 1998, Spain) is a Copenhagen-based visual artist. Boumjimar graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Spring 2025 and has exhibited and performed at venues including O Days Festival, Copenhagen (2024); Centre d’Art La Panera, Lleida (2023), ARIEL – Feminisms in the Aesthetics & Dag H 42, Copenhagen (2023); and Kunstverein, Hamburg (2021). In 2025 Boumjimar’s works can be seen in exhibitions in Kunsthall Charlottenburg Copenhagen, TINA Gallery, London (2025); Liljevalchs, Stockholm (2025) as well as in solo shows in O-Overgaden and Alice Folker Gallery in Copenhagen and CFHILL in Stockholm.

Parallel to other exhibits and practices, Boumjimar has performed with Young Boy Dancing Group since 2016 at various venues in Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Helsinki, Vilnius, Milan, Madrid and London.