Shadi Habib Allah’s exhibition at CCA explores the legacies of government welfare policies, examining how local areas adapt and survive in response to changes of city planning and strategy over time. Taking place ten months after the second fire at Glasgow School of Art and at a time when CCA’s surrounding area has undergone many physical and emotional transformations, Shadi’s work resonates with a changing city and street – as well as a politics of austerity – as he explores the hidden economy of corner shops. Shadi’s recent works respond to the city zoning and welfare policies that resulted in food deserts in Miami, particularly in Liberty City where the artist once resided. Recent transformation and proliferation of chain supermarkets have forced corner shops to adopt new and illicit forms of trade such as exchanging food stamps and welfare cards for cash. The work responds to the aesthetics of the new economies, examining how the representation of these communities, their sociality and transactions are constantly calibrated in response to the violence, ineptitude or apathy of the state.

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