275.86° 98.36° 290.56° 124.79°

275.86° 98.36° 290.56° 124.79°
2024
Wool, clay
170 x 170 x 20 cm

Anas Chao maps out his family history through the lens of Islam, a way of life that has been passed down and practiced through generations. He identifies Islam as anchoring and sheltering the family, as they moved from China to Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and his eventual arrival to the Netherlands.

Praying is the fundamental task for Muslims, often performed on rugs facing towards the Holy Mosque in Mecca. It symbolically directs Muslims worldwide and unites them into a single point, yet its decentralised nature means prayers can be done anywhere. Repetitions of the prayer create familiarity, while its timely and ritualistic requirements create stability and orientation for daily life. Islam’s translocality has enabled Chao’s family to maintain emotional and spiritual dwellings, contrasting the social, political and economical factors that have led to their continuous relocation. This provided comfort when confronted by ethnocentrism and nationalism, as they sought their legal acceptance and claimed their social identities.

The soft rug is contrasted against the rigid ceramic plaques, each bearing text symbolising systems and bureaucracies that have led to Chao’s migratory background. Text under the arches appear in Arabic, Dutch, Mandarin and Xiao’erjing languages, reflecting Muslims’ translocal adaptations in social and commercial aspects, forming a contextualised record of our time. From migration laws to sacred scriptures, text go through the translation of subjective interpretation based on specific circumstances. Islam has rooted Chao’s ancestors in a shared sense of belonging, but can this be maintained as Islam increasingly undergoes political and capitalist interpretations?

-

Click here to read the translation and brief explanations of all the text seen in this work.