Minimislam is a mixture of Islamic aesthetic theory with practices and traditions taken from Western Modernism. It uses photography to reveal the inner beauty (or batin) from within mundane, quotidian scenes, creating images that resemble mid-century modern art out of everyday domestic architecture in Morocco.

I’ve always been interested in the contrast between ideal, Apollonian states and Dionysian reality, the tension between form and colour. This project has allowed a further twist to those ideas, in that through contemplation one can bring out the underlying patterns and harmony behind the obvious, physical aspect (or dhahir).

The idea was born in Morocco upon visiting the mausoleum of Moulay Ismail. Designed in the early 18th century, the mausoleum takes the unusual form of a series of austere, minimally decorated courtyards that encourage contemplation before reaching the tomb. It was only afterwards that I saw that the pun I had used to describe it actually tied together a number of obsessions I had. I was very much the kind of person who’d come back from Egypt with no photos of the pyramids but whole rolls of film taken in junkyards.

Inspired by this visit, I began focusing on spaces that are passed over as unextraordinary, yet contained an inner beauty. Divorcing the meaning from their representation of actual objects, I aimed to create images closer to the cooler, more minimal takes on expressionism and surrealism, such as those of Rothko, Klee, or De Chirico, rather than some of the ‘busier’ takes on Modernism. I found the light in Morocco at certain times of day created a certain edge of plastic surreality that I enjoyed exploiting, and I fell in love with the blocky architecture in strong colours, highlighted with satellite dishes and clothes lines.

I hope that as Klee’s visit to Tunisia helped awaken his appreciation of colour, my repeated engagements with Morocco have helped me to formalise my practice and realise what my inner, hidden purpose is.

I think there is room for positive depictions of Islam in today’s environment, and hope that with the opening of multiple modern art galleries in the Gulf, there may be a cultural space opening up for non-representative art that conforms to the Islamic world’s mores.

This page contains a few examples of the types of photos I have been taking as part of my MINIMISLAM project. Please feel free to get in touch at the bottom of the page if you'd like any more information or would like to order any prints. I'd also appreciate any feedback, both positive or negative!