Mohammed Sami will spend a year working inside the National Gallery, developing new paintings in dialogue with its collection for a presentation opening in July 2027.
The National Gallery has named Mohammed Sami its Artist in Residence for 2027, giving the Iraqi-born, London-based painter a studio inside the museum and extensive access to its collection and archives.
Sami actually began the residency in August 2026 and will spend a year working at the Gallery. The programme will culminate in a publication and presentation of new work in July 2027, with one work made during the residency entering the collection of The Lightbox Gallery & Museum in Woking.
Known for psychologically charged paintings of interiors and landscapes, Sami often approaches conflict through what is absent rather than directly depicted. Empty rooms, landscapes and objects carry traces of events that have already taken place, leaving memory and suggestion to do much of the work.
That relationship between painting, history and memory should give him plenty to work with at the National Gallery.
“There was a time when black and white images from the National Gallery’s collection reached my homeland,” Sami said. “When I was young, it felt like a dream even to imagine seeing them in colour.”
“Time seems to have reversed past and present, placing me in the same orbit as these paintings. This is more than an opportunity; it is a turning point in my career.”
The residency is aimed at mid-career artists and is designed around sustained engagement with the National Gallery’s historic collection of Western European painting. Sami will also respond to the cultural and historical context of Woking and Surrey through the programme’s partnership with The Lightbox.
The jury said it was particularly interested in Sami’s engagement with painting and history and the potential for his practice to develop through direct contact with the National Gallery collection.
For Daniel F. Herrmann, Ardalan Curator of Modern & Contemporary Projects, Sami’s practice also connects with the Gallery’s expanding approach to the history of painting.
“Mohammed Sami’s technically accomplished and conceptually complex works sit within a long tradition of painting that continually questions and delights in its own medium, we are looking forward to working with Sami at this exciting moment in his career, and as the Gallery begins to expand its story of the history of painting into the 20th and 21st centuries.”
Sami becomes the sixth artist selected for the residency since the launch of the National Gallery’s Modern and Contemporary Programme, following Rosalind Nashashibi in 2020, Ali Cherri in 2021, Céline Condorelli in 2023, Katrina Palmer in 2024 and Ming Wong in 2025.
His presentation will form part of a wider contemporary programme at the National Gallery in 2027. The museum is developing Project Domani, exploring relationships between contemporary artists and artistic traditions stretching from the 13th century to today. Wangechi Mutu, recipient of the 2026 National Gallery with Art Fund Contemporary Artist Fellowship, will also have an exhibition at the Gallery in summer 2027.
The Artist in Residence award is delivered in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society, with support from Suling Mead. The work acquired by The Lightbox will be the museum’s first acquisition as a Contemporary Art Society Museum Member.
Mohammed Sami’s National Gallery Artist in Residence presentation will open in July 2027.
About the artist
Mohammed Sami (born 1984, Baghdad, Iraq) lives and works in London. He studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad and subsequently worked at the Ministry of Culture before leaving Iraq for Sweden in 2007. Sami graduated from Belfast School of Art in 2015 and completed an MFA at Goldsmiths College, London, in 2018. His recent solo exhibitions include Fire Exit at KM21, The Hague (2025); To Whom It May Concern at Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2025); After the Storm, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock (2024); Istmus at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (2024); The Point O at Camden Art Centre, London, and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (2023). Selected group exhibitions include those at Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2026); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2025); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2024); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2022); Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (2022); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); and Hayward Gallery, London (2021). He was shortlisted for the 2025 Turner Prize for his exhibition After the Storm at Blenheim Palace.
About
Over the course of one year, the National Gallery Artist in Residence has access to the unique National Gallery’s on-site Artist’s Studio, the Gallery’s staff and its archives and research resources. The residency includes a publication and the display of work at the National Gallery, which travels to the UK Partner Museum. A work from the residency will then be acquired for the partner museum by the Contemporary Art Society. The residency replaces the previous Associate Artist scheme. The Artist in Residence is selected by a jury. The Contemporary Art Society’s contribution is generously supported by Suling Mead. Previous artists in residence were Rosalind Nashashibi in 2020, Ali Cherri in 2021, Céline Condorelli in 2023, Katrina Palmer in 2024 and Ming Wong in 2025.
The Contemporary Art Society champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft in the UK. Since 1910 the charity has donated thousands of works by living artists to museums, from Picasso, Bacon, Hepworth and Moore in their day, through to the influential artists of our times. Sitting at the heart of cultural life in the UK, the Contemporary Art Society brokers philanthropic support for the benefit of museums and their audiences across the entire country. Their work ensures that the story of art continues to be told now and for future generations. www.contemporaryartsociety.org
