New group exhibition at Amos Rex explores African and Afro-Nordic perspectives on the world

On Tuesday, 13 October 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Amos Rex invites members of the press to view the exhibition. Interviews with the artists can be booked by email no later than 12 October at 3:00 p.m. 

The exhibition's title draws inspiration from a story in Minna Salami's book Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, in which two explorers visit the same mountain but return with completely different accounts of what they have seen. The story suggests that reality itself appears diminished when only certain perspectives are sustained and believed, and of what can become visible when other ways of understanding the world are allowed to take part. 

The exhibition's artists explore urban environments and how structures within different landscapes bring people closer together or set them apart. Through African and Afro-Nordic perspectives, questions of memory, migration, identity, and movement are raised, with the urban landscape as a recurring stage. Through varying forms of expression—sound and light, glass and sand, textiles and scents—the artists give these themes a multifaceted and sensory expression. 

"As curators, we were interested in the artists' multifaceted narratives, which are constantly reshaped as they move and work across different places. Each of the works in the exhibition returns, in its own way, to different built spaces and landscapes, and reflects on how these affect people. The urban environment in particular—the city with its many layers—recurs in many different forms throughout the exhibition. The works themselves are also layered on and within one another, creating new paths and worlds in the exhibition space in an organic and surprising way, like an ever-growing city," say curators Katariina Timonen and Marcia Harvey Isaksson. 

About the artists 

Emeka Ogboh has driven the yellow Danfo bus – an iconic form of public transport in Lagos – across Northern Europe, through Copenhagen and Stockholm to the exhibition galleries of Amos Rex in Helsinki. Along the way, the bus has recorded human encounters through sound, taste, scent and touch. 

Sandra Mujinga’s work Skin to Skin creates a world of its own, where different degrees of visibility and invisibility merge into a green glow beneath the museum’s great mound. Meanwhile Finnish-Congoleseartist Liisa-Irmelen Liwata creates an inner landscape in her work Oloseutu, exploring the meaning of nationality from her position at the intersection of several cultures. 

The exhibition features five artists working in the Nordic region, two of whom are based in Finland. For most of the participating artists, this is their first time exhibiting in Finland.  

Artists in the exhibition: 

Igshaan Adams | Akinbode Akinbiyi | Loulou Cherinet | Adji Dieye | Jeannette Ehlers | Lungiswa Gqunta | Liisa-Irmelen Liwata | Ibrahim Mahama | Sandra Mujinga | Emeka Ogboh and Karl Ohiri. 

Amos Rex presents the exhibition in collaboration with Southnord, an artist-led platform focused on Afro-Nordic contemporary art. Through African and Afro-Nordic experiences, the exhibition offers new ways of understanding today’s global issues and our shared reality. The exhibition is part of Southnord Artfest 2026, an ambitious programme of events taking place across several other art institutions in Helsinki.  

The Other Side of the Mountain is curated by Katariina Timonen (Amos Rex) and Marcia Harvey Isaksson (Southnord). 

The Other Side of the Mountain – Notes from African and Afro-Nordic Perspectives, Amos Rex, October 14, 2026 – March 21, 2027 

More information about Southnord Artfest 2026 is available on Southnord's website. 

Events 

13 Oct 2026 Keynote: Minna Salami 
Artist Presentations: Akinbode Akinbiyi, Loulou Cherinet, Adji Dieye, Jeannette Ehlers, Lungiswa Gqunta, Liisa-Irmelen Liwata, Ibrahim Mahama, Sandra Mujinga, Emeka Ogboh, Karl Ohiri

10 Nov 2026 Migratory Notes – Helsinki Edition: Artwork that takes the form of a dinner event by Emeka Ogboh 

16 Dec 2026 Hit Different: En Route: A participatory listening session by Suinner, Trabelsi and Kofu 

21 Jan 2027 Money Cowry: A participatory performance by Angela E. Mugisha 

18 Feb 2027 Artist talk and screenings: Theresa Traore Dahlberg, Ima Iduozee and Karl Ohiri  

21 Mar 2027 Let’s Play: A community event by Good Hair Day