2022 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural / Context information for the jury

We launched the mat during the annual Eid festival, when millions pray at mosques. The mats were handed out across Pakistan, in some of the country's largest mosques. Anything that involves religion in Pakistan is extremely risky and sensitive. This is an extremely brave band that took on an extraordinary challenge in an extraordinary time to alter a much revered religious symbol in the name of protection and health - it is the first time in almost a thousand years that the dimensions of the jaanemaz, or prayer mat, have been tinkered with to this extent. Most mosques in Pakistan had refused to enforce any kind of social distancing mechanism, and the government could not shut mosques for fear of a backlash, thus an alternate solution had to be devised.

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Traditional Islamic prayer mats are about 70cm wide, and used in mosques where Muslims pray close to each other. The prayer mat demarcates a personal space to pray within that would not be intruded upon by others. To build social distancing amongst mosque-visitors, we widened the prayer mat to 220cm with a message amongst its motif that reminds worshippers to maintain a safe distance. This was the first time in almost a thousand years that dimensions of the Islamic prayer mat had been altered. The mat design uses Islamic geometric patterns, which expanded within the space and created room for a calligraphed message: "This distance, is a decision for betterment" serving as a reminder to not only the worshipper on the mat, but as an instruction to the next person. Printed in Islamic green, the material used was sustainable and low-cost, non-tearable paper, which could be easily rolled up.