London-based artist Said Adrus has been active since the 1980s, mainly in the UK and Switzerland. He has exhibited and worked in Italy, Turkey and Uganda. Adrus currently divides his time between London, where his studio is located, and Burgdorf, near Bern, in Switzerland. He expresses himself through painting, drawing, printmaking and video, blurring the boundaries between techniques and media. He has taken part in numerous exhibitions, performances, site-specific projects and artistic collaborations combining installations, films and music.
 
Having himself been confronted with social and historical tensions since childhood, Adrus' practice revolves around issues of exile and the relationship with alterity, while retaining a spiritual dimension that he expresses particularly through his calligraphy and some of his videos.
 
For some years now, Adrus has been exploring certain themes linked to the history of the British Empire's populations from the Indian subcontinent. Projects such as "Lost Pavilion" and "Pavilion Recaptured" question the nature of the forgetfulness and condescension that British society reserved for soldiers from its colonies during the First World War. More recently, the short film "The Riddle of Bakuli" evokes the return of artist Said Adrus to his native Kampala.
 
Bitterly regretting successive essentialisations, it is in the spirit of Edward Said that Adrus is conducting his most recent work, paying homage to the parallelisms of lives situated in this in-between place at the junction of estranged worlds.
 
Selected Exhibitions and Projects:
 
2024
Riddles of Bakuli, screening at LCC, University of Arts, London UK
Standing Ground, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London, UK (group show)
 
2023
Riddles of Bakuli, screening  at  Burgdorf Castle Museum, Burgdorf, Switzerland
Solo show at Villa Belvedere, Bern, Switzerland
Divided Selves, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry
Wisdom Man, Paul Stolper Gallery, London
Qawali Trance, video projection, Museum Night, Bern Historical Museum, Bern 
 
2020
Visions, Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts, London 
 
2019
Retracing Kampala, The Curve, Slough, UK
Retracing Kampala, UEL University Square Straford Campus, London (solo)
Touch Base, Xenithia -Nomade, Milan, Italy (solo)
 
2018
Speech Acts: Reflection-Imagination-Repetition, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester
 
2017
The Place is Here, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham & Tour, Mima, Middlesbrough
 
2016
Non-Places, Haus 26, Burgdorf, Switzerland (solo)
Straight Outta Gyri, Kunsthalle Klingenthal, Basel, Switzerland (performance/installation with Rohit Jain)
 
2015
Entry Prohibited to Foreigners, Havremagasinet, Boden, Sweden
 
2014
Pavilion Recaptured 2014, The New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK (solo)
 
2013-2014
Wall Image & Installation Kurwerk, Burgdorf, Switzerland
 
2013
The 2nd International Triennale, Istanbul, Turkey
Urban Dialogues, Red Gallery, London
We Share, Rich Mix, East London
 
2011
Kunst am Straus, Burgdorf, Switzerland
 
2010
Bolly? Would!, Atelier Strohbach, Bern, Switzerland (solo)
 
2009
Suspended Belief, Balfron Tower, East London (solo)
Lost Pavilion, FSCA Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
 
2008
Pavilion Recaptured, The Lightbox, Woking, Surrey (solo)
 
2006
Pavilion Recaptured, Southampton Museum & Art Gallery (solo)
British Landscape & Muslim Vernacular Conference, Artist Presentation, Tate Britain
Late at the Tate, Film screening, Tate Britain
 
Residencies
 
2016
Uganda Arts Trust, Kampala, Uganda
 
2015
Progr Artists Studios, Bern, Switzerland
 
2009
Balfron Tower, Bow Arts International residency programme, London
 
1995
Bracknell Arts Center, Berkshire, United Kingdom
 
1989
Valcellina Museum of Art, Claut, Italy
 
Works in public collections:
 
 • Claut, Valcellina Museum of Art, Italy
• Cartwright Hall, Bradford Museums & Art Gallery, UK
• Southampton Art Gallery & Museum, Southampton, UK
• The Lightbox Museum & Art Gallery, Woking, UK
• Leicestershire Education Authority, UK
• Notts County Council, UK
 
Education:
 
• 1992-1993: Post Graduate Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London
• 1980-1983: B.A. of Fine Art, Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham
• 1978-1980: Foundation Course, Art & Design, Stourbridge College of Technology & Art, West Midlands, UK