Shireen Taweel: Edge of the C

2 August - 26 October

For millennia, celestial navigation has allowed humans to move across land and sea through the power of observation— but as the prospect of space migration draws nearer, the question of who is in space, and who participates culturally in this migration, is becoming increasingly narrow. Presented in Lewers House Gallery, Shireen Taweel’s solo exhibition Edge of the C traces the contours of the cosmos, celestial and cultural, proposing a series of architectural and navigational affirmations for imaginings of future migration and pilgrimage in space. Driven by a desire for a more culturally diverse future, Taweel draws upon the histories of Arabic Science’s celestial navigation and astronomical instruments to fuel inquiries and possibilties for community gathering, ritual, and ceremony off-Earth. 

Taweel adopts ancient making techniques of piercing and engraving copper; a means of returning the artisan, ancestral connection, and spiritual to contemporary discourses on astronomy and space travel. Through copper sculptures, prints, and drawing, Edge of the C conceptually references the sextant, quadrant, and astrolabe –  instruments used to measure the distance between two objects – to reflect on the consequences of the relationship between science and spirituality. Hidden scientific, spiritual and cultural Arab histories that have long been misrepresented, undervalued and clouded by colonial voices are thus offered re-emergence into current discourse on the cultural, political, and spiritual considerations for future migrations into space.

Shireen Taweel

As a Sydney-based multidisciplinary artist working on Gadigal Land at Clothing Store Studios at Sydney’s Carriageworks, Taweel’s practice rests within a diasporic landscape she inhabits as a Lebanese Australian. Through immersive installations that draw on architecture, Islamic science and ritual, Taweel brings to light histories and cultural practices that have been buried beneath the weight of social-political power structures – namely the contributions of Arabic Science’s astronomical and celestial navigation instruments to the past and future of migration and pilgrimage. Taweel’s projects are often site-specific, collaborating with local communities, architecture and environment. Through a contemporary and conceptual application of heritage coppersmith artisan techniques – including engraving and hand-piercing – Taweel imagines futures off-Earth that are built on shared histories and fluid community identities.