The work exposes the marginalization of muslim community as it highlights the growing islamophobia within the country. Numerous accounts have surfaced where offering namaz was considered as a criminal act. And people have been persecuted.
The work reimagines the prayer mat: a sacred object of devotion as one made from roll cap crackers, a material synonymous with sudden noise, disruption, and violence. This transformation becomes an unsettling metaphor for the hostile environment faced by the Muslim community in contemporary India. In recent years, numerous documented cases have emerged where the simple act of offering namaz has been criminalized, met with suspicion, or violently interrupted. Through this charged material choice, the work exposes the deepening currents of Islamophobia and the systemic marginalization of a community whose expressions of faith are increasingly framed as acts of defiance. The prayer mat here becomes both a site of worship and a terrain of risk, a quiet plea for dignity laid upon the possibility of detonation.
This artwork was exhibited at Method in the group exhibition "The Parliament is Now in Session" (August 2025)
This artwork has been made in collaboration with Stuti Kumar.
