"Faith Amongst the Ruins" is a performative project that transforms spaces scarred by hate crimes and political violence into sites of spiritual and political defiance. By performing Islamic prayer at locations where Islamophobic and racist violence occurred—such as mosques, migrant centres, and asylum shelters—the work asserts the enduring presence of faith in spaces that violence once sought to negate.

Prayer functions as both a personal and public act of reclamation, turning desecrated locales into sacred sites. Thematically, the performance explores faith as a source of resilience and defiance, challenging hate by reasserting the sanctity of spaces that have suffered from violence.

The work integrates live performance and video documentation. The performance involved revisiting the very sites where hate-fueled attacks took place. In Southport, a mosque had been targeted by far-right agitators; in Hull, migrants had faced harassment; and in Rotherham, an asylum hotel had been set aflame. By entering these spaces and performing Islamic prayer, the project reclaims and transforms them into symbols of courage and hope.

The video documentation captures the prayer performances alongside archival material of the riots and attacks, creating a stark visual contrast between past violence and present resilience. This interplay reinforces the transformative power of faith and the role of prayer as an enduring act of resistance.

The performance itself is a symbolic act—a re-occupation of space through spiritual practice. The simple, but potent, act of prayer redefines desecrated sites as arenas of sanctity and defiance, challenging prevailing narratives of fear and hate.

The recorded documentation amplifies this transformation, turning a deeply personal spiritual act into a public statement of resilience. By juxtaposing moments of prayer with footage of past violence, the work invites viewers to reflect on the enduring power of faith amid adversity and its capacity to confront systemic injustice.

"Faith Amongst the Ruins" engages with traditions of site-specific and socially engaged art, following in the footsteps of works like Mona Hatoum’s explorations of displacement and Shirin Neshat’s examinations of identity and resilience. The project draws from postcolonial theory and frameworks of spatial justice, reclaiming spaces that have been desecrated by hate.

By focusing on locations of Islamophobic violence in the UK, the project directly confronts contemporary issues of racism, xenophobia, and far-right extremism. The integration of personal testimonies through interviews aligns with a growing discourse in contemporary art about the intersection of lived experience and public space.

Thematically, the work resonates with Edward Said’s ideas on reclaiming narratives and bell hooks’ discussions on the power of love and faith as radical acts of defiance. By situating the act of prayer as both personal and public, the project highlights the ability of spiritual acts to serve as political resistance.