diff --git a/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm b/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm
index 1f17485b8d..23cd1aabf9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/freedesktop.scm
@@ -859,7 +859,18 @@ XEv.")
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (arguments
      `(#:configure-flags (list (string-append "--with-boost="
-                               (assoc-ref %build-inputs "boost")))))
+                                              (assoc-ref %build-inputs "boost")))
+       #:phases
+       (modify-phases %standard-phases
+         (add-after 'install 'remove-static-library
+           (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+             ;; XXX: Some tests fail to build with --disable-static due to
+             ;; symbols not being visible in the shared library:
+             ;; <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/libopenraw/exempi/-/issues/17>.
+             ;; Simply delete the static library instead to save ~4.3 MiB.
+             (delete-file (string-append (assoc-ref outputs "out")
+                                         "/lib/libexempi.a"))
+             #t)))))
     (native-inputs
      `(("boost" ,boost))) ; tests
     (inputs