Human Kind Exhibition at Österlens museum 28th of June – 30th of August 2026

28th of June – 30th of August

Tuesday – Friday 11 – 17

Saturday – Sunday 11 – 15

“Human Kind” is an exhibition that explores the human presence in all its complexity. In this year’s exhibition at Österlens museum, we turn our attention to the human body — naked, resilient, vulnerable, and deeply expressive.

A central part of the education at SARA Academy is the practice of drawing and painting from the live nude model, a tradition rooted in Renaissance art education. Within the three-year Traditional Realistic Drawing and Painting program, students engage intensively with figurative work over extended periods of time. A model may hold the same pose for two to five weeks, allowing students to develop a profound understanding of form, structure, light, and likeness, while striving for a high level of technical refinement.

Yet the encounter with the model is never purely observational. Beyond representation, an exchange takes place. Students are trained not only to see and render reality with precision, but also to engage in a quiet dialogue with the subject before them — to capture presence, character, and emotion as much as physical form.

The exhibition brings together works by current students, alumni, and faculty, creating a conversation between different generations, artistic voices, and experiences. Through charcoal drawings and oil paintings, bodies and faces emerge in strikingly varied ways — at times contemplative and intimate, at others direct and commanding. Classical craftsmanship exists alongside deeply personal interpretation, revealing the many ways the human figure can be understood and expressed.

The portraits and full-length figures speak not only of anatomy and technique, but also of identity, connection, strength, and fragility. A gaze, a gesture, or the posture of a body becomes a carrier of narrative and emotion, inviting the viewer into a close encounter with the depicted individual.

By working slowly and attentively with live models, the artists cultivate a heightened sensitivity to the subtleties of human expression. The resulting works remind us not only of the body as subject, but of our shared humanity — that which connects us across time, experience, and background.