Artist: Riyas Komu

The Arabic word Barzakh describes this state: neither the life of this world nor the final afterlife, but a state where the soul waits for justice to emerge. It is the space between breaths, the threshold between sleep and waking, the thin veil between you and God.

Art is the ideal realm to reflect on in-between-ness. It helps us go beyond the rules of either/or, here/there, life/afterlife, transforming that in-between space into something imaginable, inhabitable and a space of infinite justice.

As images of war and violence run in a loop, confronting us with questions of life and death, memory and dreams, oppression and resistance, Riyas Komu chooses to dwell in this uncomfortable space of in-betweenness, hoping that justice will eventually prevail. These recent works are both a continuation of his past practice and a rupture. Speaking from the Global South, Komu questions the images inherited through his institutional learning. Familiar tropes, such as the hand that reaches out and heals and the Mother and the Child, become searing metaphors of untruth and betrayal.

The show stands in solidarity with peace and freedom. As a small gesture of love and solidarity, Riyas Komu and gallerist Tasneem Hatimbhai will each contribute 10% of sales towards aid efforts for the people of Gaza.