Inventory of Belonging

Yousha Bashir, Sina Ghadaksaz, Ghasemi Brothers, Mahsa Merci, Milad Mousavi, Mamali Shafahi

May 9 - June 6  2026

Inventory of Belonging began with a simple but deeply personal gesture. It started with an invitation to engage with an existing body of works, and to move through it with time, attention, and care. Within this open access, a process of searching and discovering gradually unfolded. The exhibition took shape through close looking, intuitive selection, and a sensitivity to what felt immediate and resonant. Some works carried a sense of familiarity, while others revealed themselves along the way, forming connections through memory, recognition, and shared presence.

This experience reflects a shared condition among those living in the diaspora. Leaving one place for another is never a complete departure; it is a fragmentation. Parts are carried forward, while others remain behind. Over time, a new life takes shape, formed through a different language, culture, and rhythm, yet something unresolved continues to move between past and present.

The works in the Inventory of Belonging return to these fragments. They evoke the textures of childhood, the familiarity of everyday life, and the emotional weight of memory. At the same time, they are not solely reflective. They also speak to the present and to what is still forming new identities, new connections, and evolving ways of belonging.

Bringing together six artists and twelve works, the exhibition reflects varied approaches to displacement and identity: Yousha Bashir, Sina Ghadaksaz, Mahsa Merci, and Mamali Shafahi present one work; Ghasemi Brothers present three works; and Milad Mousavi presents five works, including a large-scale painting.

Each artist engages with displacement in a distinct way. Their practices do not seek to define identity as fixed or complete. Instead, they explore connection through memory, material, and lived experience, holding on to what remains while allowing it to transform.

Yousha Bashir’s work moves between digital and physical realities, questioning perception and spatial experience. Sina Ghadaksaz approaches painting as a mode of thinking, constructing speculative worlds through recurring forms. The Ghasemi Brothers work collaboratively, embedding memory, landscape, and repetition within their shared visual language. Mahsa Merci explores the tension between visibility and concealment, presenting identity in layered and fragmented forms. Milad Mousavi draws from everyday life and cinematic references, creating intimate and reflective scenes. Mamali Shafahi works across installation, sound, and image, building immersive environments that balance attraction and unease.

Shaped through both familiarity and discovery, Inventory of Belonging reflects on what it means to live between places. It considers belonging not as something fixed, but as something continuously shifting, held in fragments, carried across time, and re-formed through experience.

All artworks are courtesy of Zaal Art Gallery.