On Paradise: Between Hope and Memory

Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Oxford, UK

Dates: 2 October – 6 December 2026

Paradise is a word that has kept returning to me over the course of my life.

I was born into a religious household, where the Quranic allegories of the seven heavens formed a backdrop to family life. As I grew up and my experiences broadened, I realised that the paradises others spoke of were often very different to mine. Yet the idea of Paradise - this place of sanctuary and perfection, something that may be lost in the past or hoped for in the future - seems to haunt the human imagination everywhere. It is there in the great religions, in secular imaginings of utopia, and is also something that nourishes us, and gives us hope, in our everyday lives. We each carry within us our own personal paradise.

Much of my work involves listening to people as they describe how they imagine Paradise. I translate their words into landscapes and architectures, and merge different people's imaginings together to create these collective mindscapes.

For the first time, in this exhibition, I have collaborated with a sound artist-Tim Cowie - to add a sonic dimension to these sculptural worlds.

Photography by Fisher Studios