One of Us sees a wall transformed into a blanket, its usual rigidity becoming softer. Notions of strength and models of gender are questioned, as harsh material speaks of emotional experience. An unseen body finds shelter, or is crushed beneath its weight. This work (currently installed on a 16th century tomb in Wells Cathedral) responds to the widescale histories of displacement of our times, and the difficulties in finding a place to call home. The brick diaper pattern refers to high status historic walls, the Urdu texts allude to the confusion and inner reorientation exacerbated by displacement.

This is made of fired miniature terracotta bricks, hand made in press moulds by Noor Ali Chagani assisted by several artisans in Lahore, Pakistan. Each brick has two holes running vertically through the frog. We threaded flax through these to weave the blanket. The ends were woven like a rug to keep them in place. Colour variation in the bricks is from firing temperatures, and some bricks are handpainted. We made the supporting figure with a wooden armature, added in paper then plaster and scrim. Finally, we rubbed pigment into the surface to unify it visually with the blanket.

Photograph: Noor Ali Chagani, One of Us, 202t, installation at Well Cathedral, Somerset. Photograph by Tom Mannion.