Delighted to attend a launch of the IMA’s Contemporary Australian Muslim Artists exhibition tonight. A variety of genres, including: short film, oil paintings, prints, jewellery, mosaic, photography and more; the calibre of works, impeccable. The IMA international photography contest winners were announced, plus some evocative presentations from Fatima Killeen and Fatima Mawas, demonstrating how art and the political expression of resistance can be so creatively conveyed.
A showcase piece is the stunning 8ft masterpiece of printed tiles ‘I say granate, You say grenade’ by Fatima Killeen, featuring at the IMA. A fusion of east and western symbolism with the eastern hand of Fatima representing a ‘stop sign’ to the occupation and destruction caused by the western symbol, the grenade. Striking amber hues reflect the old blood spilt in these conflicts. And the grenade resembling a pomegranate questions how a device of death can be derived in name from so beautiful an eastern fruit.

Go see this stunning showcase, running until Jan 10th, 2015.