"With her sharply cut paper silhouettes and fragmented narratives, Anna Boghiguian creates a poetic stream of images in which echoes of the past mirror the turmoil of the present. The exhibition at ARoS invites the audience on a journey through time and thought, where themes such as migration, power and human change emerge with unsettling beauty and profound relevance," says ARoS’ Museum Director Rebecca Matthews.
The exhibition features four compelling installations created between 2015 and 2025: The Salt Traders (2015), Conversation with Clarice Lispector around ‘The Passion According to G.H.’ (2019), The Chess Game (2022) and The Sunken Boat: A Glimpse into Past Histories (2025), the latter of which has been created for Anna Boghiguian’s exhibition at Turner Contemporary.
Complementing these works is To the Lighthouse (2019), a series of 23 acrylic paintings on metal that draw thematic and visual inspiration from Virginia Woolf’s seminal 1927 novel of the same name.
One of the exhibition's central works, The Chess Game, is a monumental 8 x 8 metre installation that brings together a cast of influential historical figures — including Marie Antoinette, Franz Ferdinand, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Sigmund Freud, and Rudolf Steiner — alongside other pivotal voices from the realms of politics, science, and philosophy.
Through 24 life-sized, hand-painted figures crafted from cardboard, wood, and acrylic panels, Boghiguian stages a symbolic chess match in which these characters confront one another in a dynamic struggle for power and influence.
Artwork addressing the climate crisis
The Sunken Boat: A Glimpse into Past Histories confronts the urgent realities of the climate and environmental crisis, as well as the issue of rising sea levels. At its centre is a floating papier-mâché sculpture of a diver, slightly larger than life, positioned above a vast mound of sand, evoking the seabed as both a literal and symbolic space. Surrounding the diver are vibrant glass shells, sculptures of underwater swimmers and an array of painted paper cut-outs depicting fish, all contributing to a rich and immersive underwater tableau.
The installation is accompanied by a soundscape composed of sea recordings captured in the cities of Alexandria, Egypt; Margate, England; and Aarhus, Denmark. As a final layer to the installation, Boghiguian has painted a mural directly onto the gallery wall at ARoS, forming a backdrop that anchors the work in place and time.
"There is a world beneath the surface of the sea that is very different from the world we know above the sea. The work is about that world. It is like diving into yourself and discovering yourself," says Anna Boghiguian.
The Sunken Boat invites you into a vivid and contemplative universe where historical narratives, personal memories, and the contemporary crises converge. In Boghiguian’s hands, the sea becomes more than a motif — it emerges as a living force, a deep current that connects our collective past to the decisions that shape our future.
About Anna Boghiguian
Anna Boghiguian (b. 1946) is an Egyptian-Canadian artist of Armenian descent who currently lives and works in Cairo. She studied political science and economics at the American University in Cairo before moving to Canada in the 1970s to study art and music.
Boghiguian has achieved great international recognition for her distinctive visual language and thought-provoking installations. Her works have been featured in major exhibitions around the world, including the Sharjah Biennial in 2011, dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel in 2012, and both the Istanbul and Venice Biennials in 2015. She has received numerous honours and awards for her art, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and, most recently, the prestigious Wolfgang Hahn Prize in Germany in 2024.
Anna Boghiguian – The Sunken Boat is on view from 22 November 2025 to 19 April 2026.
The exhibition at ARoS is curated by Louise Bjeldbak Henriksen and has been created in collaboration with Turner Contemporary and curator Sarah Martin.
The work The Sunken Boat: A Glimpse into Past Histories (2025) was commissioned by Turner Contemporary and ARoS.
The exhibition has been realised with generous support from the Augustinus Foundation, the Aarhuus Stiftstidende Foundation, the Aage and Ulla Filtenborg Foundation of 8 November and the Danish Arts Foundation.
In connection with the exhibition, a film of Anna Boghiguian will be produced and shown in the gallery.
Attached press photos can be downloaded via Dropbox and may be used freely when giving due credit.
For further information and details about the press viewing, please contact:
ARoS Press and Communications
presse@aros.dk
+45 61904942