“I want to confront the public with controversial subjects that they are so often inclined to ignore or just close their eyes to.”
Kurt Nahar received his art education at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy in Suriname and at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and the Performing arts in Jamaica. The artist is currently a teacher at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy himself.
Kurt Nahar uses his art to express his thoughts and emotions on various subjects related to questionable social and political circumstances in Suriname and in other countries worldwide, in a bold and often confrontational manner. By doing so he hopes to increase awareness, to break the trend of silent acceptance and to ultimate stimulate discussion. His technique is inspired by the methods of his predecessors from the era of Dadaism. The use of collage techniques and simple objects are characteristic for his art.
Kurt has participated in exhibitions in various countries, and has enjoyed residencies at art institutes such as Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami, the Vermont Studio Center in Vermont, the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, all in the USA, the ‘Rijksakademie’ in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the ‘Vrije Universiteit’ in Brussels, Belgium.
In 2018, he joined the Miami based artist team of DVCAI (Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator) in their yearly international cultural exchange project (ICE) in Jamaica. In 2019 he participated in the critical exhibition Inter|Sectionality: Diaspora art from the creole city at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington DC.