Hanna Noor Mahomed

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

A Search For Form and Land

My practice seeks to explore the notion of freedom, renewal and production within the context of my subjective lived experience and the broader Islamic world: as I exist as a woman in this world, it means surveillance, self-censorship, patriarchal adversity, structural misogyny and rooted suppression. The search and longing for spaces that allow for free thinking and being have been treacherous. Looking at both my childhood and adulthood, upbringing and lived/living experience as subject matter, I seek to expose and uncover this narrative and experience through playful-but-critical modes of making while simultaneously creating and forging new spaces and ways of thinking, existing and seeing; intending to breathe intellectual life into Islam as a global structure and religion.

My personal experience bleeds beyond my community: my interest additionally lies in the broader context of the Indian subcontinent, the Muslim world and the West, and how these cultural and geo-political circumstances influence how bodies are perceived and treated. I am intrigued by the metaphysics around freedom and the lack thereof and how dogma plays into human rights and violence. The idea of freedom is historical: superstructures‘ and hegemonies’ premise relies on who is assigned freedom and who is denied it. This denial falls into human rights and accessibility, structural biases and a fight for recognition - I am fascinated by the philosophy of freedom, self-joy and my relationship to these two anchoring themes of my life. Whilst I stand from a critical standpoint when commenting on all these experiences, I am aware of the Orientalist outlook: narratives, stereotypes and perceptions of the Muslim world constructed and generated by the West.

How do we create spaces for free thought and healthy, challenging debate, construction of new narratives, shifting and alternative realities and dynamic, disruptive storytelling? My practice is concerned with imaginative ways of working and thinking, playing and experimenting, pushing boundaries and thinking expansively beyond what I have been taught.