Mauroof Jameel

Born 1960 in Malé, Maldives
Lives and works in Malé

Hamsha Hussain

Born 1992 in Malé, Maldives
Lives and works in Malé

UNSW Galleries

Hirigaa, 2024
slideshow
Courtesy the artists

Mohamed Imran

Born 1984 in Maldives
Lives and works in Maldives

Entwined, 2023
autoclaved aerated concrete block

Orb of intricacy, 2023
autoclaved aerated concrete block with epoxy
Courtesy of Gadheemee Collection, Maldives

Hewn from the reefs that ring the atolls and islands of the Maldives, 26 coral stone (hirigaa) mosques and compounds dot the crystalline shorelines of a nation that may well be under water by 2050. Architecturally unique, the building’s interiors feature intricate timber and lacquer work alongside the hirigaa bricks and carving. Integrating Maldivian artforms and construction techniques, each structure speaks to the Indian Ocean rich in visual, material, and cultural exchange.

Still used for community worship to this day, the coral mosques embody a history of coral stone construction that extends as far back as 300 BCE, when the local people practised Buddhism. Informed by the carving techniques used as far as the Swahili Coast of East Africa, the aesthetics and crafts of the Buddhist period were adapted in the transition to Islam in roughly 1153 CE. In this way, each mosque represents a cultural metamorphosis wherein local materials informed centuries of creative and spiritual innovation.

In the face of ecological calamity, the mosques are symbolic of millennia of cultural transformation, documented here for posterity. With time, each of these buildings may well be drowned by the sea they were carved out of, ground into sand and washed onto shores as yet, unimagined.

Read more about the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, by purchasing the catalogue here.