“ALLAH TOLD ME TO PLAY THE FALSE LIBERO AUXILIARY SHUTTLED MEZZALA TREQUARTISTA REGISTA RAUMDEUTER INVERTED ENGANCHE ROLE AND I LOST POSSESSION” (SPRAY PAINT AND ACRYLIC ON LEATHER) — 2024

AT THE FUNERAL OF PUNK, SKINHEAD, MOD, ROCKER AND RAVE SUBCULTURES EMERGES THE SUBCULTURE OF FOOTBALL TWITTER. FOR THE BANGLADESHI BOY IN TOWER HAMLETS OR THE SOMALI KID IN SHEPHERD’S BUSH, CURFEWED AND SURVEILLED, THE “TWITTER SPACE” HAS BECOME AN ELECTED INCUBATOR FOR REPRESSED AND DEVELOPING MASCULINITIES. ISLAMIC ARCHETYPES EULOGISED IN MADRASSA TEXTBOOKS COME TO LIFE IN THE PROJECTED IMAGE OF A BENZEMA, TARAABT, KANTE OR MANÉ. WHO IS YOUR AVI? YOUR ARCHETYPE, WHICH YOU MAY PROJECT THROUGH. ARE YOU A BADBOY LIKE BENZEMA, OR IS YOUR MASCULINITY TIMID AND INDUSTRIOUS, LIKE KANTE. SHARING “COMPS” OF THESE MODERN-DAY SAHABITE PROXY MENTORS, SCORED BY MALI WAVE RAP, M HUNCHO, OR YANKO: I BELIEVE A NEW PARASOCIAL, SUPERREAL SUBCULTURE HAS FORMED. VIVIENNE LEATHERS COVERED KINGS ROAD IN 1975 BUT IN 2025 CHROME HEART LEATHERS HUG OUR LEGS UNDERNEATH OUR THOBES…

TAKING THE SHAPE OF A FOOTBALL TWITTER TACTICO “HEATMAP” SIDE-A OF THIS WORK EMULATES THE GRAPHED MOVEMENTS OF AN INDUSTRIOUS BOX TO BOX MIDFIELDER A-LA N’GOLO KANTE. AS PUNDITS ON MATCH OF THE DAY ANALYSE PERFORMANCE, WORKAHOLIC COMPLEXES DEVELOPED IN CHILDHOOD AND INDEBTITUDES TOWARDS THE WASTED LIVES OF RURAL FOREFATHERS WHO MUCH LESS DISCONTENT AT THEIR PERFORMANCE OUTPUTS THAN OUR SUBJECT, UNDERWRITE OUR PLAYERS’ PERFORMANCE. UNHEALTHY ATTITUDES TOWARDS LABOUR WITHIN MUSLIM MALE COMMUNITIES ARE LIONISED AND VENERATED AT THE ALTAR OF THE 90-MINUTE FOOTBALL MATCH. WORDS LIKE INDUSTRY, GRIT, DETERMINATION: IMMORTALISE THE LABOUR OF A SIMULTANEOUS CORPORATE ASSET AND SPIRITUAL IDENTITY PRISM: IN THE IMAGE OF A FOOTBALLER. A FORMULA CAN BE ARRIVED AT: HEATMAP DENSITY = PLAYER PIETY + (LABOUR INTENSITY X GUILT). THE IMAGE OF A PLAYERS PROSTRATION REPLACES THE VIRTUE OF THE BEHOLDERS. SIDE-B OF THE WORK SPECULATES TOWARDS ABSOLUTIONS OF SUCH A GENERATIVE LABOUR CULTURE, AND THE SPIRITUALLY ASCENDING OR DESCENDING IMPLICATIONS.