Artist and publisher Simone Fattal is inspired by the spirituality, history and mythology of North Africa, West Asia and the Caucasus. Her lyrical compositions encompass paintings, collages and sculptures produced from clay, bronze, stone and terracotta. Clay ‘talks a lot’, Fattal notes. ‘It’s a strong thing; it doesn’t let you do whatever you want.’ Such are also the demands of recounting history: an elasticity and endurance must be reckoned with and shaped. Zhat El Himma (2006) —fired in a kiln— is inspired by Sira, an epic story of two mythic heroes that exists primarily as an oral history.