ARTISTS TALKING

'Patterns' is a multi-site project coordinated by Spacex Gallery and Art + Location in Exeter. One of the participating venues is the city's Islamic centre, a one-storey concrete prefab in the corner of an unmade car park, it is hardly pristine, there is much to distract, but still the works exhibited by Ishmael Fajer and Geoffrey Preston hold their own. Fajer's richly patterned works on A4 paper, made in Kabul, were one of the few things that Fajer bought with him on his flight from Afghanistan in 2001. Wide detailed borders with minute patterning surround Koranic texts, competently achieving the artist's stated aim of "reminding people of Afghanistan's rich history and culture at a time when the West is saturated with media images of a country in ruins". Preston's carvings replicate details of Seljuc stone works from a mosque in the Turkish city of Erzerum. Accompanying works on paper reveal his struggle to fathom the geometry of the original carvings: dissembling it bit by bit in order to understand and recreate their complicated forms.

Sky! (Oh Ciel!) is intended to be suggestive of a screen and it is difficult in current circumstances not to be reminded of the burka with its restrictive fabric mesh covering women's eyes. The work is fine in concept but fails in execution, when the screenprinted film was applied to Spacex's glass ceiling the artist failed to take into account the distance of viewers from the roof. At Exeter Cathedral the work falls foul of another set of circumstances; Benyahia's small areas of adhesive print are lost in the incredibly detailed surroundings.

Self-Portrait or the Virgin Mary looks like an empty white sheet. The six by four foot photograph depicts the artist wearing a floor-length white haik set against a white background. It is only on closer inspection that shadows emerge delineating the artist's form. The work rests on a stone ledge directly opposite another image of the Virgin Mary – rich in detail, colour and gilt. Looking at the earlier depiction of the Virgin your eyes work overtime trying to read and record every detail, turning back to face Sedira's Virgin the change of pace is palpable. It seems that altering the pace at which viewers come to understand works is a defining factor in Sedira's work. Back at Spacex, Sedira shows another piece, a single video monitor showing a close up of a mouth. The sound from A Scream for Liberation (1995) resonates throughout the building. After a while words are discernible amidst the screams; "I-I-I-I-I-You-You-You-You-You". Inevitably this starts to wear thin – very soon it becomes irritating, as I settled down to read in the resource room it seemed to me that this was exactly Sedira's point. Scream to let them know you are here; to let them know that you have a voice, even if it would be a punishable offence to voice your opinion. These two works use understatement and unsaid implication to its best effect.