SHAHEEN MERALI

Shaheen Merali is an artist, curator and writer, currently based in London. He was a lecturer at Central St. Martins, School of Art and Design, London 1995-2005. From 2003-8, he was the Head of Exhibitions, Film and New Media at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. He has curated several exhibitions including The Black Atlantic; Dreams and Trauma, Moving images and the Promised Lands; and Re-Imagining Asia, One Thousand years of Separation. Merali has edited several publications, including Spaces and Shadows, Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia and About Beauty (2005) and New York-States of Mind and Re-Imagining Asia (2007).


In all spiritual treatises, the common supplication remains almost the same… to heal yourself of all the ills experienced from birth till our earthly existence ends in death, one has to be patient and process “well” the plenitudes of earthly forces. The process of living, the way it is, becomes known as “the search” and it is perceived as a necessary quest for the gaining of “true” knowledge. Both “true” and “well” are conservatively agreed constructs from wherein we, as the people, have to operate effectively in order to attain “success” or face the prospect of withering away in eternal damnation...