The Middle

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.

Aheer explores these conceptual ambiguities with reference to concrete materials. The sculpture resembles various liminal or transitory structures such as a funeral pyre, burial stretcher, or ladder. When preparing the poles, the artist deployed the shou sugi ban technique, a Japanese method of preserving wood and making it more durable by partially burning it