Mohammed Sami Named National Gallery’s 2027 Artist in Residence
Massacre. 510x290 cm, mixed media on linen, 2023
Courtesy of the artist and Modern Art, London
Mohammed Sami has been named the National Gallery’s Artist in Residence for 2027, placing the Baghdad-born, London-based painter at the centre of the institution’s expanding relationship with contemporary art. Sami began the residency in August 2026 and will spend a year working from the Gallery’s onsite studio, with access to its collection, archives and research resources.
For Sami, whose paintings frequently examine memory, conflict and absence through interiors and landscapes, the residency creates a direct dialogue between his contemporary practice and the National Gallery’s historic Western European collection. His paintings often locate the aftermath of events rather than depict violence itself, using spaces, objects and fragments as evidence of what has happened.
The appointment also marks an interesting point in the National Gallery’s wider contemporary programme. Sami is the sixth artist selected for the residency since its launch, following Rosalind Nashashibi, Ali Cherri, Céline Condorelli, Katrina Palmer and Ming Wong. The programme is designed for mid-career artists and gives each resident a year to develop new work within the museum.
Fire Exit. 553x290 cm, mixed media on linen, 2024
Courtesy of the artist and Modern Art, London
Born in Baghdad in 1984, Sami studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad before moving to Sweden in 2007. He later graduated from Belfast School of Art and completed an MFA at Goldsmiths, London, in 2018. His work has since appeared at institutions including MoMA, Moderna Museet, Whitechapel Gallery and Camden Art Centre. He was also shortlisted for the 2025 Turner Prize.
The residency will culminate in a publication and presentation of new work at the National Gallery in July 2027. One work produced during the programme will be acquired for The Lightbox Gallery & Museum in Woking, through the Contemporary Art Society.
Sami has described the appointment as a reversal of time, recalling seeing black-and-white images of the National Gallery’s collection in his homeland as a child and imagining what the paintings looked like in colour. Now, he will spend a year working directly alongside them.