DARCH is the collaborative practice of artists Umulkhayr Mohamed and Radha Patel. Their work seeks creative ways to articulate care-centred practices for people of colour, with an approach grounded in solidarity and liberation. Central to their shared practice are rituals, shrine building and animism - the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Their work also explores relationships to land and the environment through sound, conversations and storytelling.

For Liverpool Biennial 2025, DARCH have produced a new installation in collaboration with residents in Sefton, who have contributed stories about how their connection to spiritual traditions and their Merseyside community have shaped their relationship with death and grief. Heaven in the Ground tells the story of the earth underneath our feet, and the bedrock as a great connector which holds all histories (prehistoric, colonial, personal) as well as possible futures.

The work explores concepts of the afterlife, the relationship between life and death, and the need to acknowledge the labour of other species. DARCH ask us to consider the soil, and the bedrock that holds it up, as a space that is shared equally amongst all species - plants, animals and our ancestors, both human and more-than-human - and one through which we can collectively bring into being a gentler and more compassionate world.