The symbolism of letters has created an esoteric dimension to the Arabic alphabet, which pertains to both religious scripture as well as mystical writing. According to the order of the ancient Semitic alphabet (also known as abjad), the letter ha’ represents the numerical value 5, and was drawn in early Qur’ans as a symbol to delineate every fifth aya or verse. Moreover, the letter ha' is a symbol of air (hawaa' or classified by the great Sufi mystic and poet Ibin Arabi as an 'airy letter'. It is a letter of highest value (along with alif and lam) as it represents the presence of Allah: Alif; lam; ha'.

In the Presence of Ha’ is a study of the development and evolution of the form of the Arabic letter ha throughout the history of Islamic calligraphy. The 125 wooden letterforms follow a sequence of visual relationships, whilst every fifth letter is symbolically covered in gold leaf as it was drawn from an Qur’anic illumination. The installation is accompanied by a book to document the visual evolution of this letter, and allow viewers to have a more in depth understanding of the letters and history behind them.