Through the Lens of Belonging x Mahtab Hussain
Written by: Anya Duncan
Known for his ongoing visual inquiries into the British South Asian experience, Hussain here turns his camera toward the very city that raised him, with a stunningly systematic documentation of 160 Birmingham mosques. Installed as a 16x10 photographic grid, the mosques aim to highlight the diversity of Birmingham’s historic streets. But rather than aesthetic neutrality, Hussain’s intent is laced with resistance.
These mosques (ranging from grand domed structures to humble terraced house conversions) are rarely celebrated in British architectural discourse. In Hussain’s frame, however, they are monuments of resilience, improvisation and spiritual community. This first collection of photos question not only who gets seen, but how, and by whom.
Mahtab Hussain’s latest exhibition, What Did You Want To See?, now on view at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham until June 1st, is a striking act of reclamation. The exhibition boasts an astounding collection of visuals which delicately unravel the intersections of identity, surveillance, architecture, and cultural ostracization in contemporary Britain.
At once intimate and monumental, this solo show transforms the gallery into a meditative and, at times, confrontational space where the media’s surveillance of the Muslim community is not just reversed — it’s deconstructed.
What Did You Want To See?
The exhibition’s central question — What Did You Want To See? — reads as both an accusation and invitation. Entering a dimmed installation that simulates a surveillance site, complete with video feeds and coded soundscapes, visitors are implicated in the very systems of scrutiny Hussain critiques.
The room pulses with tension: between visibility and vulnerability, documentation and suspicion. It’s a masterstroke in immersive curation, conjuring the ghost of “Project Champion,” the controversial 2010 surveillance initiative that planted dozens of cameras in Birmingham’s predominantly Muslim neighbourhoods under the pretence of crime prevention.
Where earlier projects like You Get Me? captured the swagger and defiance of British Muslim youth, this exhibition reaches deeper into the quiet poetics of community. A series of black-and-white portraits taken in 2024 serve as its emotional core. One woman leans into the frame, cigarette in hand, with a stare that’s almost cinematic in its defiance.
A mother and daughter embrace, their patterned garments whispering stories beyond any language. Another man, a mechanic in oil-streaked coveralls, gazes out at his viewer, grounded. Each portrait resists flattening its subject to archetypes. Instead, this room of portraits embrace the layered and sometimes contradictory realities of lived identity.
The show is also deeply participatory. A carpeted communal space at the gallery’s heart offers projected sequences of Muslim prayer. Quiet looped meditations are open to observation or participation. Nearby, An Act of Civil Declaration asserts the community’s voice through written statements that challenge the language of exclusion. These are less artworks than acts of cultural healing which centre reflection, gathering, and conversation.
Two video works, made in collaboration with writer Guy Gunaratne and artist Azan Ahmed, further broaden the exhibition’s sensory experience. Gunaratne traces lived experiences like football matches, weddings and the spontaneity of street life as counterpoints to public fearmongering. Mahtab Hussain probes the intimate ritual of daily prayer by grounding lyrical spirituality with the personal.
Between these explicit cultural pieces are subtler interventions; post code graffiti is etched across gallery walls as reimagined communal tags. Even the pavement patches (physical remnants of removed surveillance cameras) have been added into the gallery. Here, they serve as quiet artefacts of the state’s overreach.
Ultimately, What Did You Want To See? isn’t just a retrospective on Birmingham’s Muslim communities. It’s a demand to reconsider the frameworks we use to observe, judge and categorize this overly monitored community. With radical empathy and clarity, Hussain gives us not just new images, but new ways of seeing and being seen. It asks where you stand when someone else’s identity is under the microscope. Most importantly, this exhibition is an ode to Hussain’s community.
"Through my work, I strive to reflect the richness and resilience of Muslim communities, celebrating their individuality while challenging stereotypes. Each portrait and installation is a story, an invitation to connect, and a reminder of the beauty in our shared humanity.” - Mahtab Hussain
The work seen at IKON Gallery is a co-commission with Photoworks for their 30th anniversary year. Check out more of Mahtab Hussain’s work at “The Line”.
Words By: Anya Duncan
Images Courtesy of Ikon Gallery
Artist: Mahtab Hussain
