British artist Saad Qureshi describes his sculpture Quicken (2011) as a turning point in his practice and wrote this about the artwork:

“Quicken addresses the sanctity of human life by confronting the self-destructive trajectory of our species, the misdeeds of man and society’s increasing alienation from our shared spirituality. I modelled it after a minaret, which I broke in sections as a demonstrative gesture of the discord wrought by man.

Originally inspired by reports of a suicide bombing at a mosque in Afghanistan, I see this work as a metaphor that speaks of greater things… a messenger of the failure of communication and the brutality which ensues. It declares a state of emergency for our earthly co-habitation, but not without hope for resilience.

Within the sculpture’s core, viewers will notice the faint beating of a heart. This recording, taken at the moment of a baby’s birth, leads the viewer away from the horror of modern warfare and returns him to the divine rhythm of life at its most innocent.”

You can read my art story of Qureshi’s amazing installation at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Something About Paradise (2020), here.