"God Particle is a collection of my most recent work, which includes drawings, paintings and a site-specific installation. I have always been interested in the idea of belief, and specifically in the appropriation of religious symbols and icons of faith to discuss non- religious concepts, such as statehood. The Hand of Fatima (common to all the Abrahamic faiths but familiar to me through Shia iconography) has become an important conceptual image in my work. Increasingly the symbol has come to replace traditional mark making to become the main symbol in my drawing, partly out of an effort to see how far one can take it as a descriptive element. The open palm is associated most often with divine protection, benediction, safe passage and as a antidote to the 'evil eye'. As I continue to develop my own visual vocabulary to make contemporary icons, it has come to represent divinity in my work generally. That representation - and the myriad ways in which the hand is used in all my images - is what inspired the title of the show.

This work is part of my continued effort to create a vocabulary that draws on religious imagery, iconography, figurative art, votive decoration, illuminated manuscripts and the symbols of faith. I am interested in the idea of the blasphemy and especially in the power of an image to be sacred or profane. 

I chose the Parthenon frieze as an access point for discussing the intersections of various religious traditions first because of its role as a figurative masterwork but also because of the role of Greece in high classicism as the gateway between religious traditions (recently made conspicuous by its location as the entry of Syrian and other refugees into Europe). It is a natural stop in my continued investigation into the interactions of cultures through faith." 

(excerpt from statement, Komail Aijazuddin, 2016) 

Aijazuddin currently lives in Lahore, Pakistan and works in both Lahore and New York City. He was born in Abu Dhabi and completed his bachelors degrees at New York University (2006) and an MFA at Pratt Institute (2010). Aijazuddin has been exhibited internationally in Pakistan, Europe and the United States. Significant recent shows include Canvas Gallery, Karachi (2015), Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore (2013); Khaas Gallery, Islamabad (2013, 2015).