Nurin Zahirah Binte Zakaria

Fi Amanillah, which translates to “I leave someone or something in the care of God,” is an installation that explores the tension between control and surrender. The work is constructed from four burnt wood panels with two arched doorways.

Viewers are invited to enter the space and be transported into the mind of the artist, engaging not only through sight but the smell of burnt wood. Upon entry, they will first encounter an Islamic carpet floor with five sculptures: a monkey seated cross-legged before a low cement table and islamic carved tablets mounted on the surrounding walls. The two large walls display carved Arabic words, with the right wall being inscribed with Fi Amanillah and the left being inscribed with Flee To God, verse 51:50. In Islamic tradition, figurative sculptures are often discouraged; the dusky leaf monkey acknowledges this tension while symbolically representing the artist’s ongoing journey of humility, learning and surrender.

Using wood, clay and cement, the installation emphasises groundedness and reflection, drawing attention away from worldly distractions, and finding freedom in enjoying the present instead. While enclosed spaces are often associated with confinement, the work reframes that liberation does not necessarily come from the removal of boundaries or change of environment, but from the mindset with which we inhabit them. This suggests that restriction may also function as a chosen mental framework rather than an imposed limitation.

Adjacent to this concept, the burnt room symbolises the artist's mind rather than the environment, showing that her method of letting go through Islam brings peace, yet the journey to get there is often tough, indicative by the burnt walls.