02/09/2026
Between Suns by Khaled Sabsabi, curated by Mikala Tai presented by Vessel
Open Wednesdays 1-7pm
Thursday-Sundays 11-4pm
Don’t miss this powerful installation CURRENT, the former electrical substation of the Naval Store!
Aajyna
1998/2026
Lebanese coffee and speakers
Aajyna is Sabsabi’s first visual artwork, and an anchor point that he continues to reimagine.
In Aajyna Sabsabi returns to a significant childhood memory. As a young child he, along with his family, sought shelter and refuge underneath and between foundations of buildings during the Lebanese Civil War. They moved from building to building as the conflict took over the streets and, for days, stayed quiet in semi-darkness. In the moments when light did enter these spaces it illuminated the walls, where brown drip marks rolled down the concrete amidst mildew. In desperation, his family would press flour into those drips to make a dough. Aajyna is the Arabic Lebanese for dough.
Sabsabi processes works iteratively, where works and series oscillate back into focus in his practice. He is constantly revisiting and reimaging the work, capturing with each edition his shifts in perspective and evolving context. For Vessel Aajyna is presented for the first time outside of the Gallery context. In a small, disused space the work returns to the memory in the most haunting presentation yet. While the drips imprint the walls vertically the centre of space is occupied by a series of small speakers. They hum and vibrate in the space echoing the continuous rumble that accompanies existence in a zone of conflict.
Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
Mikala Tai
Khaled Sabsabi
