The Right to Wonder (2026)
Black velvet, sea salt from Qurrayat, Oman,
internally illuminated curved table (400 × 50 cm)
Commissioned by the Media Majlis Museum, Northwestern University in Qatar, for the exhibition What's Between, Between? (Spring 2026).
The Right to Wonder was inspired by the community stargazing events organized by Palestinian astrophysicist Dr. Suleiman Baraka in Gaza. By inviting children and families to observe the night sky, these gatherings created moments of curiosity and shared learning in the midst of conflict.
Rather than depicting war itself, the installation reflects on what it takes away: imagination, freedom, and the simple act of looking toward the sky. It responds to a reality in which a telescope can be treated as a threat rather than an instrument of curiosity.
Black velvet, sea salt from Qurrayat, Oman,
internally illuminated curved table (400 × 50 cm)
Commissioned by the Media Majlis Museum, Northwestern University in Qatar, for the exhibition What's Between, Between? (Spring 2026).
The Right to Wonder was inspired by the community stargazing events organized by Palestinian astrophysicist Dr. Suleiman Baraka in Gaza. By inviting children and families to observe the night sky, these gatherings created moments of curiosity and shared learning in the midst of conflict.
Rather than depicting war itself, the installation reflects on what it takes away: imagination, freedom, and the simple act of looking toward the sky. It responds to a reality in which a telescope can be treated as a threat rather than an instrument of curiosity.
Within an enclosed, darkened space, Ali uses sea salt collected from Qurrayat, Oman, to form a constellation across an internally illuminated curved table. Carrying traces of both sea and body, the salt renders an image of the sky on the ground. Drawing on stars in Islamic cosmology as signs of guidance and divine presence, the installation reflects on childhood, absence and the right to dream.
A small platform invites visitors to adopt the posture of someone looking through a telescope. Rather than looking upwards, they look down at a constellation extending infinitely through reflection. This juxtaposition of infinity and confinement considers what it means when the freedom to look up is denied, framing imagination not as an escape from reality, but as something worth protecting.
An accompanying essay by Dr. Suleiman Baraka for ‘The Right to Wonder’ can be read here.
A small platform invites visitors to adopt the posture of someone looking through a telescope. Rather than looking upwards, they look down at a constellation extending infinitely through reflection. This juxtaposition of infinity and confinement considers what it means when the freedom to look up is denied, framing imagination not as an escape from reality, but as something worth protecting.
An accompanying essay by Dr. Suleiman Baraka for ‘The Right to Wonder’ can be read here.