The Everlasting Gaze, Death and All His Friends, The Butcher is made up of paintings in three parts assembled as a triptych by Malaysian artist Justin Lim. They were made while the artist was on a residency program in Vermont, USA. These paintings serve to create more questions than provide answers. As an example, in Islam, the actions and consumptions of its followers are placed in categories such as Halal (permissible) and Haram (forbidden). Justin plays with these elements by depicting Haram elements such as dogs against the butcher’s meat, religious icons beside food and modesty beside liberal values for as a response to recent and ongoing situations in the his native country, Malaysia where Islam is the predominant religion of its majority Malay population.The paintings inquire the price and place of religious zeal for cultural harmony within a multicultural society. They solicit a response from a population that is specific to a landscape, the hallmark of many artworks particular to Southeast Asia. They demand opinionated dialogues, perspectives and beliefs and its differences.
