Artist Tour: The Middle with Aman Aheer

About

Explore the process and ideas behind The Middle alongside artist Aman Aheer and King’s academic Dr Taushif Kara with this 30-minute tour. The tour will begin next to the sculpture on the Activity Lawn, Strand pedestrianised space.

About The Middle

The Middle is a public sculpture created by artist Aman Aheer, in collaboration with Dr Taushif Kara (Lecturer in Islamic Studies in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies).

Drawing on different theologies and practices relating to death and mourning, The Middle asks the viewer to consider the precarious and often ambiguous space in between. What does it mean to live on the threshold, or exist on the border? And what does it feel like to seek sanctuary?

The Middle, represents, Aheer's reflection on the ambiguous concept of barzakh: an Arabic term used to describe the intermediate state between death and the afterlife. While the concept tends to be understood mainly in spiritual terms, barzakh can also be translated as a physical “barrier” or “obstacle,” and is used twice in the Qur’an to describe the impenetrable border between fresh and salt water – where the river meets the ocean. Some Muslim philosophers even likened it to a dreamworld or a state somewhere between the material and spiritual realms.

About the Contributors

Aman Aheer is an artist working through several different media. Though primarily working through painting, his practice also incorporates both found objects and organic materials, including iron and waste. He is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and has exhibited globally, including most recently at the Dystopia Biennale in Berlin. Aheer’s solo exhibitions include Twin (Chapter 6, Shanghai), body double (indigo+madder, London), and Man is Not a Bird (St Peter’s Church, Cambridge).

Dr Taushif Kara is Lecturer in Islamic Studies in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies. He is especially interested in Muslim political thinking in the moments before and after decolonisation, and has ongoing research is on the concept of barzakh, including its intellectual history and contemporary uses.