GHOSTMACHINE Gallery is pleased to present No longer me, Zac Hacmon’s first solo show with the gallery. Resulting from a collaboration between New York City–based artist Zac Hacmon and Wael Haffar Habbal, a Syrian asylee and sociology scholar, the exhibition brings together an immersive, site-specific installation that confronts state violence, memory, and the persistent human yearning for freedom. Through a powerful blend of sculpture, video, and sound, the work transforms the gallery into a space of encounter and remembrance.

At the heart of No Longer Me stands Unit 7 & Unit 8 (2025), two towering geometric sculptures, one larger, the other smaller, echoing its form. The smaller sculpture symbolizes a young life shaped beneath the looming presence of the larger, which suggests the next generation caught in a seemingly inescapable cycle. Their architectural presence resembles vessels, waiting to be inhabited, their verticality setting the tone for the entire exhibition. Four elevated windows protrude from the top, subtly commanding attention and inviting the viewer’s gaze. These apertures encourage an intimate engagement with the sculpture’s interior space. Inside the tallest structure, a looping video titled Tor shows a subject walking within barriers that gradually multiply. The work creates an in-between space marked by continuous crossings—between destinations, states, and identities. By repurposing crowd control and political structures that usually regulate movement, Tor (2018) transforms these restrictions into something entirely new: an unknown, open space that invites exploration beyond imposed boundaries.

At the back of the gallery, we encounter the sculptures titled No Longer Me. Two cantilevered structures Me extend from the walls, suspending the sculptures in a state of apparent weightlessness. Flanking the space these two sound sculptures create a narrow passageway that guides the viewer walk between them. As visitors pass through, they encounter the voice of Habbal reciting his poem No Longer Me, in both Arabic and english. The audio alternates between the two sculptures, weaving the two languages together in a haunting, immersive exchange. Composed in the aftermath of his escape from Syria to Lebanon in 2014, the poem creates a sensory tension: the voice—subtle yet piercing—becomes a metaphor for the inner self struggling to be heard. Just as the poem expresses emotional paralysis—“no words escape from my lips”—the installation transforms that silence into a physical presence, amplifying it throughout the space. Wael Habbal’s recorded voice fills the gallery with vivid recollections from his childhood, while a video projection shows him dancing—his movements embodying resilience, mourning, and transformation. One feels enveloped in a murmuring atmosphere of memory, grief, and survival, where the intimate becomes collective and the unspeakable is given form.

Hanging above, More dreams (2025) consists of two repurposed exit signs, transformed into glowing text that reads “MORE DREAMS,” marking a path toward an emergency exit. Usually regulated by strict building codes, these signs are designed to guide people safely during emergencies. In this case, the work takes on a personal and political resonance, evoking Habbal fleeing Syria in 2012 after joining pro-democracy protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who ruled from 2000 to 2024 following his father’s three-decade dictatorship. Hacmon presents this immersive, site-specific installation that confronts state violence, memory, and the persistent human yearning for freedom. 

In No Longer Me, we confront the lasting impact of life under dictatorship—a reality Wael Habbal endured firsthand, and one Hacmon interrogates through architectural forms. The monumental sculptures convey a sense of authority and control; their scale and weight evoke systems of dominance and surveillance. Set within a dim, almost oppressive atmosphere, the installation channels a visceral sense of confinement, where darkness becomes a metaphor for restriction and invisibility. This exhibition is part of Hacmon’s ongoing series examining themes of statelessness and refugee, centering lived experiences of individuals navigating exile, displacement and identity.