"I'm never happy with my own work. I can't stand it" Meet the artist: Fatima Moallim

Fatima Moallim’s rise has been meteoric in the past year. The self-taught artist already has a sweeping list of impressive career accomplishments, exhibiting site-specific works at Göteborgs Konsthall in Gothenburg, Marabouparken and Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Now, she's preparing for a major solo exhibition at a gallery in Stockholm and will travel to New York in 2022.

Moallim’s practice is based in drawing and performance, where the act of drawing becomes the focal point of her artistry. During these performances, with her back to the audience, viewers are invited to see her work take shape on the wall, by peering over, and into, her process, which takes place in almost complete silence. Some liken this aspect of her performance to prayer, with a hushed, meditative atmosphere surrounding her work. With great intent she creates art that reflects both her humour and depth as an artist.

Moallim’s story differs from many of her peers in the Nordic region. A complete autodidact, she did not attend art school. Although not necessarily visible in her work, I imagine that her ability to adapt and the fluidity in her performance is indicative of how her skill and expression is completely unique and innate.

She grew up in a small Swedish city, Växjö, in Småland, very close to the woods. "It is a very peaceful area, almost idyllic," she says. "My parents are from Mogadishu, and I was born in Moscow, Russia, and immigrated to Sweden just a few months later."

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Being Somali immigrants in Småland presumably made for an interesting childhood? "Of course… actually I spent my first two years in Sweden in a refugee camp in Norrland, before moving south. Generally, I avoid talking about my experiences being subjected to otherness and racism growing up in a small Swedish city because they’re painstakingly obvious, and I feel that people can decipher a lot more from just looking at what I make. My family, and my background, are omnipresent in my work; take the piece 'Familjealbum' ('Family Album'), after making it I counted the figures depicted in the artwork and realised it’s a self-portrait of me and my family."

Her journey to becoming an in-demand and highly-renowned artist seems all the more remarkable given this background, yet Moallim remains modest about her rise. "I used to draw when I was a child and I never stopped. Eventually I got this idea to draw live in a room as a performance and applied to an open call at the museum Marbouparken and then one opportunity led to another," she says simply.

Moallim became an artist purely by making art, and her focus remains on the craft. "I work hard at challenging and reinventing my expression," she says, "although I am still loyal to my universe of imagery, this particular visual language that I’ve created."

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She highlights a plethora of people as being among her inspirations, from the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat to chef Anthony Bourdain, along with musician Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange), writer Fran Lebowitz and photographer Ming Smith. "I am inspired by how performance artist Pope.L dresses during his crawling performances, that is a huge inspiration in my own performances," she adds. "The artist Adrian Piper is also a huge inspiration. Sometimes I wish I lived in New York in the '70s or early '80s."

Yet beyond this eclectic list of names, Moallim is reticent when it comes to discussing her artistic practice. "I hide almost everything I have in my studio before someone comes to visit," she says. "I’m almost never happy with my own work. I can’t stand it actually."

Such a statement inevitably breeds curiosity about what happens in her studio, but Moallim remains coy. "My process is really calm and lonely," she says. "I do love my studio, I mean, it’s a lovely place. I usually cook food – I might have something boiling in a big pot while I sleep on the sofa. Then maybe I make something."

She often starts creating in her notebooks, later expanding into the actual physical studio space, where her works take form as installations on the walls. Moallim begins by drawing free-form images from memory, creating never ending lines, which she says echo the equator. However, what satisfies her most is "eating at least twice a day, and drinking coffee," she says with a laugh. Since she works all the time, constantly creating, these short breaks for food are the ultimate luxury.

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The artist is currently working on her upcoming debut exhibition at Belenius, a gallery in Stockholm, which will open in January 2022. "It is my most personal work to date and consists of material that has never been shown, sketches hidden in drawers and notebooks," she says. "I deliberately booked a flight to New York the same weekend the exhibition opens because I’m too nervous to be present."

Moallim's trip to the US isn't just a fit of escapism however. Her visit to New York comes as part of a grant from IASPIS (The Swedish Arts Grants Committee) for a one-year artist residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in Brooklyn. "I’m looking forward to diving deep into my practice and seeing how I develop," she says, "but mostly I look forward to getting accustomed to everyday life. I imagine myself wearing an oversized jacket with enormous shoulders, walking down the street on the way to my studio and then getting a great idea."