Pilgrimage of a Hajjanaut 

new commission presented part of We Are Eagles, TarraWarra Biennial, TarraWarra Museum of Art 29/03/25 - 20/07/25

three channel film installation + directional sound; 19:30 minutes, engraved copper plate unique prints + graphite, hand engraved and pierced copper navigation sculptures

‘The project Pilgrimage of a Hajjanaut is an embodiment of faith and science, one that generates decolonial images of heritage practice with which to speculate possibilities for past, present and future space migration. The Hajjanaut is a character of speculative fiction through which the lived experiences of a Muslim woman in space, offers a futurism of equitable space travel. The Hajjanaut does not currently exist in the literature around extraterrestrial travel or ‘off earth’ existence. I have proposed the term to specifically represent one, in this case a woman who undertakes the Hajj while living in space. The Hajjanaut was created from months of researching ninth to sixteenth century astronomical and celestial navigation instruments within the Arabic sciences, and their relation to migration and pilgrimage.

I have recently undertaken a pilgrimage which was, for myself a Hajj, both actual and performative; a journey, in which I negotiated for the first time my own experience as a migrant and pilgrim, to a point on the continent closest to Mecca in present time, and, as the Hajjanaut, a character of speculative fiction. I navigated a route from Otepoti Dunedin on Te Waipounamu Aotearoa, New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean to Karajarri Country, Western Australia on the Indian Ocean during the Hajj in the month of June, a total of 5364 nautical miles. Archival research of astronomical manuscripts and celestial instruments of Islamic science and astronomy informed the crafting of celestial navigation instruments and celestial map making techniques for the pilgrimage. I established site specific records of the southern celestial hemisphere, and engaged with specific stars and constellations to identify latitudinal and longitudinal calculations for geographical locations along the pilgrimage route of Hajj.

To reimagine history and our common heritage requires the creativity of speculative fiction, as the weight of centuries of Eurocentric influence is a heavy burden. To draw from existing cultural heritage and practice and to look towards tomorrow’s science and technology is a central component of reimagining. It points to the importance of heritage in a local sense, and the politics of a universal global heritage. I feel that establishing a distinctly Islamic heritage practice founded in science and embodied through the experiences of the female character of the Hajjanaut offers a strong counter-narrative for western, patriarchal space colonisation. Within my project connecting to and reviving cultural heritage practice provides a foundation for the creation of Islamic speculative fiction which disrupts linear, colonising timelines, creating space for future imaginings.’

- Shireen Taweel.