Mandy El Sayegh’s 'Burning Square' series of paintings is inspired by Chinese blessing scrolls crafted by El-Sayegh’s uncle, a calligrapher. Among the collaged fragments they contain are gold leaf and joss paper, otherwise known as “Hell money,” which is ceremonially burned in Buddhist culture to honour the dead, and to pay the debts of one’s ancestors. The gold-leaf squares which appear on many of the paintings mirror this ceremonial paper, which traditionally uses gold foil to connote wealth. In El-Sayegh’s work, the gold square functions as a symbol of talismanic protection, with its association with funeral rites serving as a means to pay tribute to those who are denied such rites. The gold square also represents the obscuring of information, doubling as a ‘redaction square’ to mask other layers of imagery. In times of unrest, historical records are often burned or fragmented to maintain state narratives. Here, the gold square becomes a holding device for such records, and the painting an archive that can be burned at any moment.