The impetus for the body of work Apparitions starts in the spaces of shadows, from the position of an observer watching from within a junction populated by the unwanted and the unseen. The bodies of the figures that inhabit the works bear witness to the trespassing of time on the aspirations of the self and community which has sculptured their torsos and postures. In these works the casting away of the representation of the trappings of locality gives us the opportunity to contemplate the humanity of the 'other', in which the memories of experience have become a sea of shadows and apparitions. For the artist the influence of light on colour is a central pre-occupation that recalls Plato's observations in the cave allegory on the nature of vision, representation and the human subject. The result of which, in this context, are these monumental canvases, that speak of the presence of absence and the passage of time.

Jawad al Malhi, May 2006