Since 2013, Safemuse has hosted over thirty international residency artists from an array of artistic genres. In addition, the organisation has collaborated on numerous projects with various artists in need of support, both in Norway and abroad.

Safemuse residency artists

Since the permanent residency programme was established in 2021, Safemuse has worked with the following artists. NB: Some names have been omitted due to security reasons:

Kai Mata (Indonesia) is a leading queer artist, working as a professional musician, songwriter, and speaker. Through her music and public engagement, she raises awareness of LGBTQIA issues and advocates for visibility, rights, and community-building for sexual and gender minorities, creating a platform for LGBTQIA liberation in a country where legal censorship and societal discrimination remain significant challenges. With over five million streams, Kai has transformed hate speech into powerful pride anthems, propelling her onto festival stages across six continents, leading to speaking engagements at the United Nations on the role of art as a cultural catalyst, and establishing her as a founding organizer of Pride in Bali. Kai began her residency at Oslo Art Haven in May 2026. During her stay, she has participated in the Young Experts Seminar at Utøya and WEXFO 2026, and performed at the opening of Oslo Pride at SALT Art & Music, as well as at Hvitsten Art Haven.

Xuan Trang Nguyen Thi (Vietnam) is a film director and producer with nearly 20 years of experience in international cinema. She is known for her commitment to independent storytelling and high-profile Southeast Asian collaborations. After producing award-winning films such as the 2024 Cannes contender Viet and Nam and the 2025 Locarno Golden Leopard winner Hair, Paper, Water…, she made her directorial debut with the short film After Taste. Trang arrived at Hvitsten Art Haven in April 2026. During her residency, she is actively developing her first feature-length documentary, Land of Evanescence, which explores personal identity and the experience of growing up within a changing society and a demanding national education system. The project has been presented at Cannes Docs at the Cannes Film Festival and screened at Deichman in Oslo and Mølen in Hvitsten, bringing together Norwegian film experts to gather feedback and support the finalization of the film.

Tara Abdullah (Iraq) is a kurdish multidisciplinary artist from Sulaymaniyah whose practice explores women’s rights, resistance to violence, environmental awareness, and questions of identity and belonging. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, and performance she combines personal experience with broader social and political concerns. Since arriving in Oslo in February 2026, Tara has actively developed her artistic practice while engaging with new contexts, collaborations, and audiences. She has participated in a panel discussion and made an artistic intervention at Riksscenen, collaborated with Mesén to open the conference Voices in Public Art with a performance and video screening, and taken part in Oslo Open 2026, showing her studio practice and presenting new paintings alongside a work-in-progress installation created during her residency. She has also exhibited a new site-specific installation at the Lyse Netter Art Festival and participated in the mini-residency Rafiki and Friends at Hvitsten Art Haven. Tara will continue her residency there, developing new work for Hvitsten Salong.

Nurperi Orunbaeva (Kyrgyzstan) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator at the Museum of Feminist and Queer Art (MoFA+) in Bishkek. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, textiles, and public art, she explores women’s experiences of oppression, resilience, and transformation. Her work connects past and present, translating personal and collective histories into powerful contemporary visual narratives. Nurperi spent her residency at Hvitsten Art Haven from spring to autumn 2025, followed by an extension during the winter of 2025 at our partner institution, Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale. During her residency time, she created and exhibited new works at Hvitsten Salong, Gamle Munch, and Tegneforbundet. She has also developed and facilitated several workshops as part of the Masahat Festival and Hvitsten Salong programmes, further expanding her research and artistic development through exchange and collaboration.

Eddie Htet Aung Lwyn (Myanmar) have been an artist-in-residence at Oslo Art Haven since June 2025. Eddie is a storyteller working primarily through the mediums of cinema, photography, and writing. Their practice explores the complexities of gender and sexuality, as well as the transformation of identity through experimental forms of storytelling. During their residency, Eddie developed the script for their first feature-length film, participated in local film festivals, and curated a film event Burmese Queer Film Dispatch at Nordic Black Theatre. This period of research and artistic development has allowed Eddie to deepen their engagement with queer narratives and expand their cinematic practice within Norwegian cultural landscape.

Vera Shysh (Belarus) is an independent animation director and painter. For security reasons, her name has been changed, and biographical details remain confidential due to ongoing repression in Belarus, where political persecution and restrictions on artistic freedom continue. Vera participated in Safemuse’s artist-in-residence programme during spring – autumn 2025, developing her practice in a safe and supportive environment at Hvitsten Art Haven. During her residency, she exhibited her work at Hvitsten Salong, Tegneforbundet, and Terminal B. She also facilitated workshops for children in Hvitsten and Vestby.

Thinh Nguyên (Vietnam) is an artist working with photography and film. His practice explores the impact of urbanization, displacement, and social change on individuals and communities, focusing on questions of place, memory, and belonging. Working between documentary and staged photography, Nguyên creates visual narratives that address both local realities and broader global issues, highlighting the human dimensions of migration, development, and changing landscapes. During his residency, which he began in June 2024, Thinh developed his practice at Oslo Art Haven and Hvitsten Art Haven, followed by a residency at our partner institution, Artists’ Centre Dale. He exhibited his photographs at Tegneforbundet and worked on his first photobook in collaboration with artist Linda Bournane Engelberth. The book was published in 2026 and launched at Fotografiens Hus with an accompanying artist talk.

Andrei Busel (Belarus) is a visual artist. He was imprisoned in Belarus and left the country immediately after his release for fear of being imprisoned again. He arrived in Oslo in the fall of 2022 as a Safemuse artist-in-residence. Andrei combines his architectural work with artistic interventions and has participated in a number of group exhibitions and street art festivals. During the residency period, he was part of a studio community in Oslo and participated, among other things, with new works in a collective exhibition at Bryn.

Varun Narain (India) is a puppeteer from Delhi was an artist-in-residence between the fall of 2023 and the spring of 2024. Varun identifies as queer, and has faced artistic restrictions from the rapidly growing Hindu nationalism in India. During his residency, Varun showed his performance Dark&Delicious during the Safe Havens conference in Athens and at the Nordic Black Theatre in Oslo.

Wang Chong (China) is the founder of Beijing-based performance group Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental. He is the most internationally commissioned Chinese theater director. His works have been performed in more than 20 countries. Wang’s productions include: The Warfare of Landmine 2.0 (2013 Festival/Tokyo Award), Lu Xun (2016 Beijing News Best Chinese Performance), Teahouse 2.0, (2018 One Drama Awards Best Little Theater Work), Waiting for Godot (live online performance with 290,000 audience), and The Plague (live online performance with artists working from 6 continents). He has been a global nomad since 2022. Website: www.theatrere.org

Altyn Kapalova (Kyrgyzstan) is an artist, writer, queer activist, curator and researcher. Among other things, she was one of the initiators behind Kyrgyztan’s first Feminnale – “Feminist Biennale of Contemporary Art” – and also founded the Museum of Feminist and Queer Art (MoFA+). Altyn was an artist-in-residence at Hvitsten Art Haven in the fall of 2023. During her residency, she worked on an elaborate textile piece that was later exhibited in Norway. She also participated in various artist and panel talks in Norway and during the Safe Havens conference in Athens.

Bertony Louis (Haiti) is an award-winning poet who was Safemuse’s artist-in-residence in Oslo during summer of 2024. Through his poetry, Bertony explores the intersection of poetry and the natural world, environmental challenges and the ocean. During his residency Bertony had two poetry recitals in Oslo: At Nordic Black Theatre and the launch of a new edition of the publication “Mellom”, which took place at La Perla and focused on Caribbean literature in translation. He has been a Fellow in residence at the University of Glasgow and is currently Harvard at Risk Fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University.

Pouya Pour-Amin (Iran) began his professional artistic journey in 2003 as a musician and composer. Since 2011, he has expanded his work to include theatre, taking on roles as a musician, actor, and director. Today, Pouya continues to evolve as a multidisciplinary artist, blending music, performance, and theatre in his creative practice with the support of Hvitsten Art Haven. Since arriving Norway as an artist-in-residence, Pouya has composed and performed at the Hvitsten Salong and Ultimafestivalen – the largest contemporary music festival in the Nordic region.

Saba Pouyeshman (Iran) has a background in screenwriting from Tehran University of Art. In addition, she has studied the history of modern art and attended acting school and has performed in several theatre productions and short films. She has also pursued visual arts and during her residency she exhibited her work “Mølen Sky” at the art festival Hvitsten Salong.

Carlos “Gato” Quintana Catún (Guatemala) is a breakdancer and performer. Gato arrived Norway in 2019 as an artist-in-residence with Safemuse. Since then, he has had solo performances, as well as many artistic collaborations with key people in the Norwegian breakdance, music and theatre scene.

WHOSE VOICES ARE BEING HEARD

The following five artists were part of the residency programme Who’s voices are getting heard, financed through EEA grants. The project was a residency and exchange project in collaboration with the Wroclaw Institute of Culture. The residency focused on artists with a high artistic level and minority background, who necessarily do not get the same opportunities as majority artists. The residency in Hvitsten resulted in the exhibition of works during the local art festival, Hvitsten Salong 2023.

Kate Ngan WaAo (Macau)
David Puszyński (Poland)
Saitip Majewska (Thailand)
Viktoriia Toofan (Ukraine)
Oleksandra Balytska (Ukraine)