MARCH 14 2020 LISTENER 27
family and my community. In an awards
context, I didn’t want to be seen as seek-
ing sympathy. But part of the narrative and
poetry within the work did come out of the
healing process – that gave me a better lens
to look through. It did feel like an urgent
discussion because of what happened – it
shows the spirit is an entity we need to start
addressing in our spaces.”
There is also a more personal side.
Although his design was never planned as a
memorial to his brother, “Being able to pro-
duce something that I could be proud of and
got recognition for is something [Elayyan]
would have been keen to see for me. He was
my biggest mentor – he was always expect-
ing the absolute best from me and seeing
my potential more than I could ever see it.”
Although Alayan was born in New
Zealand, Elayyan, 12 years his senior, was
born in Kuwait and spent his early years in
the US before moving with his Palestinian
parents and baby sister to Christchurch.
“He saw himself as a New Zealander, that
was at the core of his identity in terms of
public life. At the same time, we all defineourselves as Palestinian, so we balance the
two – the Kiwi and the Palestinian. We are
proud of these roots, although the pride in
that probably comes from the adversity more
than anything – if Palestine was this stable
area, we probably wouldn’t be so worried
about making sure we were proud of it, if
that makes sense.”THE PAGEANTRY OF COMMEMORATION
Growing up in Christchurch, Alayan
experienced the physical and spiritual
environment of the mosque as a kind of
“third space”.
“It isn’t commercial or domestic, it is
this in-between space purely for spiritual
engagement. The Al Noor Mosque isn’t an
incredible building – it is like a cartoon of a
traditional mosque – but it is an escape inMA
RT
IN
HU
NT
ER; (^) D
AV
ID
(^) ST
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OR
GE
“For me and my family,
there’s that guilt about
being overexposed. You
do see pockets of the New
Zealand public being
uncomfortable with the
amount of attention this
event has garnered.”
Spiritual journey: Alayan at
the 2019 awards exhibition
at Victoria University of
Wellington; below left,
Alayan in Christchurch.