Two Point Nine Billion Kilometres from the Sun is a suite of reversed paintings, a breached black box and a 4-channel sound work that pitifully reverts to an elliptical mother tongue. The work unfolds and unravels at a dissonant rhythm, codifying history and culture to uncover the fluidity of time, space and form.
 
Ishak has exhibited regularly throughout Australia and overseas for over two decades. His work Responses to an immigration request from 194 governments was shown at the 54^th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in the curated exhibition The Future of Promise (2011). He has been featured in many significant exhibitions in notable institutions, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, AU; Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, CA; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, SG; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, AU; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, AU; Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, AU; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AU. In 2023, the artist was the subject of a major solo exhibition Eye Looking at Large Glass Broken at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, accompanied by a monographic catalogue published by Sonntag Press that followed the recurrent impulses driving Ishak’s practice for over twenty years. Recently Ishak was awarded the Metro Tunnel Legacy Artwork commission to produce a site-specific installation at the new Anzac metro station in Melbourne, opening in 2025.

Raafat Ishak
Two Point Nine Billion Kilometres from the Sun
Conners Conners
13 September – 12 October 2024