Titled Iridescent Objects Under the Shade, Khairullah Rahim’s research project explores how beauty can function as concealment, protection and coded resistance. During the residency, Khairullah investigates props and set pieces as performative extensions of persona, memory and desire, while considering shade—both ecological and metaphorical—as a framework for visibility, attention and care. The project reflects on how light, shadow, transparency and opacity might offer strategies of camouflage, survival and safety for marginalised bodies within hostile environments. Through objects staged as carriers of affect and memory, the research examines how beauty and inauthenticity can complicate exposure, vulnerability and protection.

Special thanks to contributors and collaborators Elden Zachary, George Chua, H.M., and Zeha.