Suspended, 2022

Suspended looks at the intersection of time, space, and power, inviting viewers to reflect on stagnancy under hierarchies of domination.

Like the lighting of candles in prayer, at alters, or in someone’s memory, the work evokes hundreds of hours of hope, waiting, and remembrance. Obscured, the figure beneath the wax can be seen as both armchair and throne, summoning both the household patriarch and the political ruler who refuses to give up their seat.

The work emerged from my interest in the effect of settler-colonialism on our experience of time. The past prior to colonization is erased and a future beyond it becomes impossible to imagine, leaving many of us to exist only in a continued status quo. This ongoing Nakba approaches 75 years and millions of refugees continue to await return. Suspended is a reflection on this state of limbo, exacerbated by patriarchy and neoliberal governance. Yet the work invites the viewer to bring their own interpretation and ask the questions: What is keeping me suspended? How long will I wait for change?