I just want to live, Stateless Mind Pavilion, Gwangju Biennale

I just want to live brings together works made across fifteen years into a poem about life, death, and repair.

Breathing Soil (2025, produced with Parker Heyl) is a kinetic sculpture. In this iteration it is made from soil gathered in Gwangju.

Three dry orchids rest on handmade wooden shelves, facing a single orchid petal suspended from golden thread used in traditional Bahraini Kurar weaving, a practice performed by five women working simultaneously with their hands.

Held with care the orchids speak to both the fragility and persistence of life, while for Al-Mashouk, the gold thread becomes a poetic gesture towards collective repair.

I just want to live, written by the artist directly on the wall, faces screenprints made by enlarging fragmenting and repeatedly laying an original small etching of a skull.

Together, these elements move between fragility and persistence, witnessing and care, and an insistence on life.