Tarik Ahlip
Feast of the Compradors

Feast of the Compradors is a presentation drawing on two years of practical research into modern West Asian political and economic history. This body of work draws heavily from the work of Franco-Egyptian economist Samir Amin (1931 - 2018) in considering the significance of the region as a node for resource extraction in the development of modern capitalism, and the devastating effect of its integration into the modern global system.

Studies for a Failed State (2026) is a series of small-scale models concerned with the idea of architecture as a tool for state propaganda, drawing on various global civic and ministerial forms as well as the works of speculative architects Étienne-Louis Boullée and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. The namesake work of the exhibition, Feast of the Compradors (2026), depicts a vista viewed through an architectural installation. The video work that accompanies these sculptural works compiles excerpts from interviews and presentations by Samir Amin relating to systems of global capital, and the impact of imperialist hegemonic expression on West Asian sovereignty.

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Tarik Ahlip is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in architecture whose practice spans sculpture, film, verse and sound. Ahlip has gained recognition for documentary work (31.05.2010 - an account of the 2010 attack on civilian activist vessel Mavi Marmara by Israeli forces by Jasmin Redjepi), as well as projects on migrant social formation and historical revisionism.

Selected recent exhibitions include Semi Conductors (with Emma Fielden) at Mary Cherry Contemporary, Naarm
Melbourne, 2025; Kara Toprak, Schmick Contemporary, Sydney, 2024; Paradise, West Space, Naarm Melbourne,
2022; Phosphorus, Verge Gallery, Sydney, 2022; eXsanguin, LON Gallery, Naarm Melbourne, 2019; and
Womanchrist, Alaska Projects, Sydney, 2017. Ahlip was awarded the 69 th Blake Art Prize in 2026 for his work On Her Return (Facial Burns and a Garland of Flowers), 2024–25.