Practicing Devotion [2022]

The three-channel video installation Practicing Devotion features various stages of Al Ghusain’s Sufi dervish practice, highlighting the dizzied, transcendent gaze after the whirling has stopped. Over a period of 30 days, the artist gave up alcohol and caffeine, and made action paintings using wine, coffee and tea. Central to this period was a daily study of the 99 names of Allah, which were worked into an embroidery and card deck, which were featured on social media as a relational artwork.