Jwan Yosef’s site-specific contribution to Forever Is Now .02 considers the ancient pyramids’ role as conduits to eternity and the everyday wonders of the environment. Yosef sees the Sahara’s terrain as far from barren and focuses on the desert as a source of vitality, acknowledging its part in conserving Egypt’s history. Additional inspiration is taken from the fluidity of the sands’ shape-shifting capacities, including the ecological marvel of its traveling dust, where its fertile minerals are known to cross land and sea to give sustenance to the Amazon Rainforest.

In Vital Sands, Yosef immerses sculpted aspects of his self-portrait in the remedial sands of time. While the sand and scale poetically abstract the figure, one is left to imagine what rests beneath. The installation presents a different angle from traditional self-portraiture. The abstraction de-centralises the form from hierarchy and recognition, pushing the genre to function as a call for self-reflection and self-care. While the pyramids, in the distance, point to the sky, Vital Sands is a grounding moment for monumental intimacy, welcoming viewers to reflect from within, meditating on the individual’s role of care for self, humanity and nature.