AMSTERDAM.- Foam 3h presents Terror of Beauty, the first solo museum exhibition by artist Sarah Amrani. With her work, Amrani explores the complex relationship between technology, culture and beauty standards. The multimedial exhibition invites visitors to think critically about how our perception of beauty and identity is shaped in the digital age.

Sarah Amrani explores the effect of social media and technologies on the experience of female identity, with a focus on the face as a battleground of beauty. In a time where we are constantly confronted with unrealistic beauty standards, through our phones, television and advertising, Terror of Beauty offers a moment to reflect. The exhibition also explores AI-driven beauty filters that are used to construct a preview of physical surgical procedures. Disguised as a tool, this contributes to the pressure to meet certain standards.

An important topic for Amrani is the hijab as a visual frame of the female face. A frame that not only emphasizes her beauty, but also reflects women’s autonomy and self-expression. Driven by a fascination with the visual language of the hijab in a digital context, such as in makeup tutorials, she began to explore the hijab in relation to beauty standards and digital technologies. In doing so, she presents an underexplored perspective in the conversation about beauty and the digital world and challenges the current societal discourse on this topic.

Terror of Beauty highlights the intersection between technology, culture and beauty standards, and challenges visitors to think about the influence of developments in this area on our self-image. The exhibition contains photography, video installations, and textile works

Sarah Amrani is the eighth recipient of the Florentine Riem Vis Grant. The grant was established in memory of Florentine Riem Vis (1959-2016) and is awarded annually to enable a young artist to further develop their artistic career. Previous recipients include Steffi Reimers (2023), Bebe Blanco Agterberg (2022), Karolina Wojtas (2021), Gilleam Trapenberg (2020), Solène Gün (2019), Rebecca Sampson (2018) and Stefanie Moshammer (2016/17).