Ali Kazim’s Untitled (cloud series) and Untitled (storm series) 2018, installed at GOMA for ‘Air’, January 2023 / © Ali Kazim / Photograph: M Campbell, QAGOMA

Working on polyester film allows Kazim to treat tiny particles with particular attention. Black pigment is worked with cotton or soft brushes to create an atmospheric field, while stencils and erasers are used to describe floating pottery shards, dust and storm clouds. The artist describes dust in fine detail, studying its capacity to both preserve and destroy layers of history, and exploring how dust can reveal traces of civilisations as it shifts and moves. Capturing such transient moments, as climatic forces draw sleeping ruins out of stasis, Ali Kazim’s subtle images ruminate on the passage of time.