Dome of the Rock by Bashar Alhroub

Emphasizing the holiness of the city of Jerusalem and its closeness to the heavens form one part of the series. Bashar Alhroub presents several ceramic sculptures of the Dome of the Rock, made
on a small scale in different colors. Those sculptures question the relationships formed between religious sites as holy symbols and religion as a commodity in a highly commercialized competing market. The ceramic sculptures represent mass production that suits different tastes. Sarcastically, Alhroub’s Dome of the Rock’s sculptures brings to mind the cheap traditional plastic kids’ piggy bank for coin collecting that can be found in popular stores around Palestine. The similarity between the two objects is stunning and opens a new level of discussion about the commercialization of religion to get to the masses.