94. Cristy, Lee, Ahmed, Luca and Mo | Artworks

We are the children of the future! We welcome you, guests of Allah! We have many stories to share. Stories from North Africa, from Africa, from the Middle East, from Europe and Asia. We’re your cute guides to the Hajj, your companions at every step. You can’t see us, because we’re your imaginary friends. But you’ll hear us whispering in your ear the dos and the don’ts of Islam. And don’t you ever worry, because we’re always there, watching over you like our friends the Noble Recorders!

This work transcends the objects. Ultimately, what I’m working with isn’t only the artefacts themselves, but the stories attached to them. For me, each tale is the manifestation of the object, and each object is a tangible materialisation of an underlying narrative. The work finds its equilibrium somewhere between the stories and chronology they’re chaptered into, the objects becoming knots or points along the timeline, woven into stories as part of the language of this artwork. Each story draws out a tale that intends to trigger imagination and memory, mixing fact with fiction, with the ultimate aim of straddling, conflating and confusing fixed notions of history to open up the unofficial histories that shape the character of place and memory.
Ahmed Mater
2014