In collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum and architect Shahed Saleem, the Three British Mosques exhibition was created for the Applied Arts Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale. The pavilion explored the self-built world of adapted mosques through detailed 1:1 reconstructions of highly decorative mihrabs, minbars, and other significant architectural elements. In the United Kingdom, the majority of mosques have developed through the adaptation of pre-existing buildings—such as houses, shops, cinemas, pubs, and former places of worship. These transformations often represent acts of communal self-determination, as congregations actively fundraise and work collectively to create spaces that better reflect their religious, social, and cultural needs.
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The history of the mosque in Britain tells a wider story of migration, identity, and cultural dialogue, where different traditions and architectural practices merge to offer new opportunities for the evolution of the urban environment. This layered history reveals the mosque not only as a place of worship but as a dynamic social institution, continually shaped by its community and its surroundings. As part of the exhibition, I was commissioned by the V&A to represent the communities and practices connected to three mosques—Brick Lane Mosque, Old Kent Road Mosque, and Harrow Mosque—through film and interviews. In approaching this work, the principle of site-integrity was adopted as the most appropriate methodology, ensuring that each mosque’s unique character, practices, and congregational life were represented with sensitivity and authenticity. A series of films of congregational prayer—originally produced through the Assembly project—were screened within the pavilion, capturing the embodied communal rhythms of worship within each mosque. Alongside these films, interviews with members of the congregations offered personal narratives, highlighting the intimate relationships individuals have with their mosques and providing a deeper understanding of how these spaces sustain both spiritual and community life.
For more information: please visit V&A website.
