Wind moves freely across territories, indifferent to the lines that divide them. That observation from Moroccan artist Amine El Gotaibi opens his new exhibition at Southern Guild in New York, Wind From the North, where sculptures of metal and wool speak to the tensions between land and state, and to the ways people mark change.

The works begin with panels of copper or Corten steel, weathered until their surfaces carry the oxidised patinas that only time can produce. Affixed to these aged backdrops are tufts of beige and rust-coloured wool, wound into tight knots or left to flow freely. In Mountain and Desert, a 2026 work measuring 244 by 394 centimetres, the fibres cascade like the undulating terrain of mountains and countryside, while Desert Wind, from the same year, sets red wool against a steel ground. A third large piece, Reflection, combines copper and wool across 346 centimetres.

Wool carries a particular weight in the artist's thinking. Textile production is among the oldest craft traditions of the North African highlands, and El Gotaibi uses the material to challenge the assumption that Africa's cultural contributions are most likely to come from the centre and south of the continent. His interest lies instead in the landscapes of his home country and the wider region, and in imagining geography as porous and interconnected, shaped as much by what passes through it as by the borders drawn around it.

The exhibition's statement extends that proposition beyond fixed coordinates, presenting place as something formed by movement and exchange rather than by maps. Wind From the North is on view at Southern Guild in New York through 9 January.