Traces of Freedom: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Koen Theys and Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer
Margherita Artoni
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Saturday, August 29, 2026
Reality is shaped by the traces we preserve, the stories we inherit, and the symbols through which we understand the world.
Bringing together Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Koen Theys and Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer at Larry Gallery in Kortrijk, the exhibition explores how individuals and communities confront oppression, endure moments of uncertainty, and search for forms of freedom.
Through sound, images, and myth, the three artists investigate the relationship between power, memory, and survival. Their practices approach different historical and cultural contexts while sharing a profound attention to the experiences of those affected by displacement, violence, and exclusion. The exhibition also engages with pressing contemporary realities, including questions surrounding conflict in the Middle East, migration, and the ongoing struggle of displaced communities.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s practice examines the relationship between sound, testimony, and authority. In Rubber Coated Steel, represented in the exhibition through two panels, the artist transforms acoustic traces into forms of evidence, exploring how sound can reveal hidden histories and challenge official accounts. Through his investigation of audio-ballistics and acoustic memory, Abu Hamdan addresses the impact of state violence and the role of individual voices in preserving testimonies of injustice.
His work focuses on the traces left by conflicts and the experiences of people whose voices risk being overlooked. Listening becomes a way of recognising realities that remain outside dominant narratives.
Through sound, images, and myth, the three artists investigate the relationship between power, memory, and survival. Their practices approach different historical and cultural contexts while sharing a profound attention to the experiences of those affected by displacement, violence, and exclusion. The exhibition also engages with pressing contemporary realities, including questions surrounding conflict in the Middle East, migration, and the ongoing struggle of displaced communities.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s practice examines the relationship between sound, testimony, and authority. In Rubber Coated Steel, represented in the exhibition through two panels, the artist transforms acoustic traces into forms of evidence, exploring how sound can reveal hidden histories and challenge official accounts. Through his investigation of audio-ballistics and acoustic memory, Abu Hamdan addresses the impact of state violence and the role of individual voices in preserving testimonies of injustice.
His work focuses on the traces left by conflicts and the experiences of people whose voices risk being overlooked. Listening becomes a way of recognising realities that remain outside dominant narratives.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Earshot (Live ammunition suppressed by rubber bullet adapter) / Earshot (Sound grenade), 2016 Digital prints on metallic paper, mounted on dibond 125 x 50 cm each Edition of 3 + 2 AP Courtesy Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Koen Theys approaches related questions through the power of images and collective narratives. His preparatory study for Diasporalia engages with migration, representation, and the construction of cultural identities. Throughout his practice, Theys explores how visual languages influence the ways societies imagine belonging, history, and difference.His works reveal the complex relationship between attraction and critique, showing how images can preserve cultural meanings while also exposing the ideas and structures behind them.
Koen Theys, Diasporalia Drawing, 2016
Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer introduces the symbolic dimension of myth through her exploration of the unicorn. Moving across religious traditions, medieval imagery, Renaissance symbolism, and contemporary imagination, the figure becomes a reflection on vulnerability, resilience, and the desire for liberation.
In Ferrer’s work, the unicorn embodies a tension between purity and captivity, aspiration and limitation. Its presence evokes a universal search for freedom and the emotional landscapes created around hope, transformation, and survival.
The strength of this exhibition emerges from the encounter between three different artistic approaches. Abu Hamdan follows the traces through which events become audible and visible. Theys examines the images through which histories and identities take shape. Ferrer explores the symbolic forms through which humanity expresses invisible desires and fears.
Together, these practices reveal how art can preserve testimonies, question inherited representations, and imagine new possibilities. Between forensic investigation, historical reflection, and mythological imagination, the exhibition presents a space where memory, resistance, and the search for freedom converge.
In Ferrer’s work, the unicorn embodies a tension between purity and captivity, aspiration and limitation. Its presence evokes a universal search for freedom and the emotional landscapes created around hope, transformation, and survival.
The strength of this exhibition emerges from the encounter between three different artistic approaches. Abu Hamdan follows the traces through which events become audible and visible. Theys examines the images through which histories and identities take shape. Ferrer explores the symbolic forms through which humanity expresses invisible desires and fears.
Together, these practices reveal how art can preserve testimonies, question inherited representations, and imagine new possibilities. Between forensic investigation, historical reflection, and mythological imagination, the exhibition presents a space where memory, resistance, and the search for freedom converge.
Exhibition Date: August 27 - September 30, Larry's Gallery, Kortrijk
Main Image: Emma Hepburn Ferrer, St Sebastian, 2025, oil on jute, 30x20 cm, Courtesy Sapar Contemporary and Emma Hepburn Ferrer
Margherita Artoni, Italian art critic and curator, contributor to Flash Art, Segno, Artribune, Exibart, ArteIN, Artapart, Juliet, The Arts Fuse, and Whitehot Magazine. I have directed galleries in Italy and the United States, including NEOCHROME Gallery, EDGE Art Space in Turin, and TEAM Gallery in New York, and curated projects for fairs such as NADA New York and Miart.
She has directed galleries in Turin — including NEOCHROME and EDGE Art Space — and in New York at TEAM Gallery. Her curatorial work has included exhibition programs with international artists such as Rashid Johnson, Theaster Gates, Ali Banisadr, Angel Otero, Tim Rollins & K.O.S., Laura Owens, and Mika Tajima.