Mathematician by day, artist by night—it seems that double lives run in the Gharem family. Works by Ajlan Gharem, the brother of the internationally renowned artist Abdulnasser Gharem who was once a lieutenant colonel in the Saudi Arabian army, have been included in two exhibitions in London since October 2015. The latest, In Search of Lost Time (until 19 March) at the School of Oriental and African Studies’ Brunei Gallery, is a show that examines the rapid growth and development of the Gulf in the past 60 years. Ajlan also seems to have inherited a taste for the politically provocative—his contribution to the Brunei Gallery show features a cage shaped like a minaret. The work is part of a larger cage piece that measures 10m by 30m and represents a whole mosque. Titled Paradise Has Many Gates (2015), it symbolises the “power wielded by all those above the unwitting individual, from elder brother to father, neighbourly imam and, eventually, the state”.
