04/09/2026
Stepping into the ELSEWHERE exhibition in London felt like walking straight into a deeply moving narrative, where visual art and literature speak the exact same language.
David Austen’s thirty works on paper are visually striking. He continuously returns to the same pale figure, shifting only the background. It perfectly captures that quiet, haunting concept of the "double" the ghost of the life you could have lived in the place you left behind.
But what truly anchored the experience was Hisham Matar’s accompanying short story, NEW SHOES.
Following a man who left Cairo to navigate a quiet life in London, it is a breathtaking rumination on displacement, the emotional distance between brothers, and the eternal question of how much of us stays behind when we leave our roots.
Thank you so much, Hisham, for the invitation. Witnessing how seamlessly your words converse with Austen’s visual frames was an absolute privilege.
If you are in London, please make time to experience this exhibition. It runs until 18 October 2026 at the Cedric Bardawil gallery (1-3 Old Compton Street, W1D 5JB).