Let Us Love This Distance: FOROF, Rome

Brahim creates a journey through the unconventional spaces of Foro Traiano 1. The work is grounded in an ontological relationship with space and in the connections between body, water and matter. Engaging with the archaeological traces of the eastern apse of the Basilica, built by Emperor Trajan in the 2nd century AD, and with the particular conditions that preserved its marble flooring — water having acted as a natural protective element, preserving the vibrancy of its colours — Brahim creates a well set into the floor, opening a window onto her family history by tracing references and memories through documents preserved in her father's archive.

The installation invites visitors to throw a stone into the well, triggering a luminous and sonic response that transforms gesture into a moment of listening and intimate contemplation. The project is complemented by film, photography and site specific installation, challenging the traditional notion of monumentality: the monument becomes the action itself, the participation of the public and the connection established with the place.

FOROF’s sixth Season reconsiders curatorial practice, entrusting Alessandro Gallicchio with the special role of accompanying Brahim’s dialogue with FOROF. Here, archaeology and contemporary art do not simply coexist, but enter into a productive state of tension.

“Drawing on the reflections on critical museology developed by art historian and curator Piotr Piotrowski, LET US LOVE THIS DISTANCE conceives of the exhibition space as a site of friction. Not a neutral container, but a porous territory in which artworks, bodies and contexts generate new perspectives and imaginaries. A space that does not assert, but questions, shifting the curator from the position of someone who directs an interpretation to that of someone who accompanies its emergence,” explains Gallicchio.

Sarah Brahim (b.1992, Riyadh) is a visual and performance artist working across many mediums to present work rooted in experiences of the body. She trained as a professional performer, teacher, and choreographer at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and received a BFA (Hons) from London Contemporary Dance School. Her research-based practice began while studying medicine at university, as she continued practicing and performing. The pursuit to understand the body through every possible lens - biological, physiological, experiential, and more - led her to receive her BS from Oregon Health and Science University, with a focus on medical anthropology, naturopathic medicine, and public health. In her work, Brahim examines how gestures of the body create a language that can be used to voice grief, metamorphosis, the unseen form, and our relationship to the natural world. Transformation through movement is reflected in her works that explore questions of embodiment and cycles of connection, whether social, spatial, or spiritual.

Sarah Brahim’s work has been presented at the Sufi Museum, Paris (2026); AlUla Arts Festival, AlUla (2025); The Grand Palais, Paris (2025); MOMI New York Arab Festival, New York (2024); The Venice Biennale, Venice (2024); Locarno Film Festival, Film Makers Academy, Locarno (2024); Paco Imperial, Rio de Janiero (2024); Louvre Abu Dhabi for the Richard Mille Art Prize, Abu Dhabi (2024); the Islamic Biennale, Jeddah (2023); the Biennale de Lyon, Lyon (2022); the Diriyah Biennale, Diriyah (2022). In 2023, she was in residence at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center in New York and received the Baroness Nina von Maltzahn Fellowship for the Performing Arts. Her first international solo exhibition Sometimes We Are Eternal was presented at Bally Foundation in Lugano, Switzerland (2023-2024). Most recently, Brahim was awarded the 2025-2026 Pina Bausch Foundation Fellowship, also having received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Ambassador Ludovic Pouille on behalf of the French Republic and President Emmanuel Macron in 2024. She has undertaken the Lafayette Anticipations residency in Paris (2025). Sarah Brahim looks forward to presenting her work in OFFSCREEN, Paris and FOROF, Rome in 2026.