Limbs of the Lunar Disc

23 May - 8 June
Preview: 22nd May 6-9PM

For Limbs of the Lunar Disc, her first London solo show, Sarah Al-Sarraj presents a new digital work ‘Isthmus Ancient River’ commissioned by Helen Starr’s Mechatronic Library, alongside ‘Separated by Millennia’, a series of paintings commissioned by the Arab British Centre and Shubbak, curated by Jessica El Mal. 

Predicated on the belief that the world we inhabit was built in service of imperial violence, these works explore new worlds underpinned by alternative temporalities; via narrative journeys through time, viewers are invited to engage with notions of deep time, ancestry and ecology. 

Through paintings, ‘Separated by Millennia’ presents the lifeways of an imagined temporally-nomadic tribe, who use Islamic astronavigation instruments to manipulate time. While the new virtual work ‘Isthmus Ancient River’ offers a journey down the river of time. Flowing from the distant future to the recent past, we follow an Ancestor exploring the long term results of present day environmental violence and ongoing liberation movements. Both exhibited works explore imperial violence on a deep time scale, paying attention to the spiritual and metaphysical salience of the natural world.

Inspired by Laura Nasrallah’s concept of the ancestral assemblage, where we are duty bound to those who came before us, this exhibition asks how can we bring about intergenerational justice for those yet to come?

As We Are, Might Have Been and Could Be is an artist development programme at The Arab British Centre, which aims to provide opportunities for artists of Arab descent in the UK through commissions, exhibitions and events.  

Limbs of the Lunar Disc is funded by the Arts Council England Project Grants. 

Artist bio:

Sarah Al-Sarraj is a visual artist and cultural worker. Her practice centres on worldbuilding as a creative and critical process, where painting and immersive technologies are understood as portals to other worlds. In 2023 she was awarded a grant from Arts Council England to develop her animation practice, for which she is currently working with the Mechatronic Library. Her first solo exhibition, ‘Separated by Millennia’ opened at Two Queens Gallery in 2024, commissioned by the Arab British Centre. Alongside her artistic practice, she has a background working in social justice with organisations such as Healing Justice London and Forensic Architecture, and she currently serves on the board of trustees at the Inclusive Mosque Initiative, an intersectional feminist mosque.