4 photographs mounted on aluminium
100 x 150 cm
2011
In his work, Wimo has captured four miniature versions of Ka’bah, Mecca’s Islamic holy place, that are usually used to instruct pilgrims before they leave for haji. Wimo has chosen these four miniature versions for their different visual characteristics to show how visual representations of Ka’bah as a holy place can be interpreted in different ways depending on specific cultural backgrounds. The diversity in interpretations regarding what is sacred and holy in each version of the Ka’bah shows that the nature of religious teaching is interpretative, which means that difference becomes a certainty.
Wimo’s work also explores the problems around sacred icons in religious texts, which are actually representations of God or God’s presence made by humans. By situating the Ka’bah in a frame that confronts it with natural landscape, Wimo explores contradictions within what is natural and what is invented with respect to the idea of God.
