Catalogue of Available WorksLast updated: July 2017

All pieces save Limited Editions are unique and come with a Certificate of

Authenticity. Documentary Booklets also accompany the larger works.

Joumana medlej creates Abstract Art to evoke universal truths. Unburdened by iconography,

the work bypasses the mind to speak directly to the heart. The images refer the viewer not to the world of forms but to a cosmic order; their architectural quality generates a space in which the observer is held in contemplation and a sense of mystery.

A key component of the work is the use of words, hidden in plain sight: Joumana’s visual language is based on Kufi, the first great Arabic script, now largely forgotten even by native speakers. She received the essence of Kufi while working with master calligrapher Samir Sayegh, and went on to gain a deep understanding of it through her own practice and research. The stylized, repeated words that make up each art piece endow it with the script’s intrinsic qualities—an inner consonance of shapes and proportions that reflects classical

teachings on Beauty—making each of them a self-contained whole, a world with its own natural laws.

Materials and techniques vary: acrylic, watercolour or even egg tempera, on paper, wood or metal surfaces. Joumana calls on the full intensity of colour. She rarely uses paint from the tube, instead mixing the raw pigments to tailor their interaction with light: from bottomless mattes, to surfaces shimmering with an inner glow and ever-changing iridescent lustres. Similarly, she works with shadows, creating and casting them by layering or folding. The ultimate expression of this quest for depth and unmediated experience are her wall sculptures, which break free from any background to grow straight out of the wall.

Joumana’s work is found in private and public collections around the world. Joumana’s work is found in private and public collections in the Middle East and in the West. She has created work for Apple Inc., Amnesty, the Khayrallah Center at NCSU, BBC Arabic, and the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan. She lives in London, where she also teaches Kufi calligraphy.

Education

• Diploma in Traditional Arts from the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, 2013

• Assistant and apprentice to Master Samir Sayegh, Beirut, 2007-2012

• BGD (Bachelors of Graphic Design), American University of Beirut, 2001

Exhibitions

• “Lighting the Darkness”, London, 2015.• Work included in “Signs, Traces and

Calligraphy” by Rose Issa, Beirut, 2015• Work included in “Great Lebanese Painters of

the Jihad and Farouk Abillama Collection”, Beirut, 2014

• Sharjah Art Museum’s 5th Summer Art Festival, 2014

• Kuwait’s 6th International Islamic Arts Convention, 2013-14

• Art•Marylebone Art Fair, London, 2013• “Maktoob: Contemporary Calligraphy”,

Maasser Beiteddine, Lebanon, 2012 Collections

• The KA collection, Lebanon• Gallery One, King Abdulaziz Center for World

Cultures, KSA• The Jihad and Farouk Abillama Collection

Latest WorkNew in this edition of the catalogue.

Care حنوWatercolour and metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“And what is it to work with love?It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.”— Khalil Gibran

Hunuw means “care” in both senses of “having affection for someone”, and of “looking after someone”. It’s usually associated with motherly love and also means “sympathy, compassion, kindness.”

Cosmology

A series charting the symbolic universe, using words and geometry. These pieces are based on the medieval conception of a geocentric universe, where the physical and metaphysical worlds flowed into each other, and astronomy was intertwined with astrology, alchemy and theology.

Celestial Gardens جنانWatercolour and shell palladium on cut paper, acrylic and interference pigments on canvas. 122 x 122 x 4 cm. 2017.

In the space between the Sky of Fixed Stars and the Sky of No Stars, Ibn Arabi situates the Celestial Gardens, the paradise promised to the faithfuls, hierarchically structured into 7 gardens. To represent these, I used overlapping circles in foliated Kufi to create a feel of lush and exuberant greenery, in contrast to the stark structure of the abstract spheres beyond. There, the zodiacal signs are painted in light-reactive pigments that are only visible under certain angles.

The Cloud العماءAcrylic and interference medium on floating alu-minium. 120 x 120 cm. Jan 2017.

The Cloud, describing a mist where nothing can be seen distinctly, is “the place where God was before Creation”, a plane where nothing yet exists except the first elements of the Ideas behind all things — comparable to the primordial soup of loose hydrogen atoms — here represented by the letters of the alphabet, which are the elementary particles of the names of all creation. The Cloud is synonymous with the divine Breath, which precedes the utterance of the creative Word كن. The letters are said to be the human expression of that Breath and are ordered here in their phonetic sequence, from innermost to outermost.

Behind the SeenAcrylic and gouache on paper, torn; watercolour, shell gold 23.75ct and shell palladium on alumini-um. 61x61 cm. Feb 2017.

In one basic way of describing the cosmos, ‘Âlam al-Shahâda عالم الشهادة, the World of Seeing or “visible world”, is contrasted with ‘Âlam al-Ghayb الغيب the World of Mystery or “invisible ,عالم world”. (In modern language: Conscious and Unconscious). We’re familiar with the former; it is forever filling our senses, concealing from us a subtler and wider reality.In this piece, the “visible world” is torn to reveal another deeper world behind it. This is reinforced by the contrasting treatment of the two planes. In the foreground I deliberately dulled the blue and used golden gouache (a poor gold substitute) for the dots. But the background is painted over aluminium which shines through the watercolour, and the stars are shell gold and shell palladium, burnished so they truly sparkle.

Planetary Spheres كواكب10-panel piece. Acrylic or watercolour on cut pa-per, assembled on Khadi paper 650gsm, 56x76 cm each. 2016.

In the context of my work on cosmological themes, I decided to create a series for the planets individually, so they could be seen as individual bodies in their own right. Because the last three planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) did not have proper Arabic names, I had to assign ones that carry on the pattern of the much older Arabic astronomical names, which correspond to pre-Islamic deities.

The number 10 also brings the solar system to a perfect completion, being, in Pythagorean thought, the all-embracing, all-limiting “mother”.I recommend reading the full discussion of the research and symbolism behind this project on http:/majnouna.com/portfolio/planets.

Heavenly Spheres أفالكMineral and natural pigments in acrylic binder, gold leaf 23.75 ct, silver leaf, shell gold and shell palladium on wood. 120x120 cm. 2015.

A calligraphic representation of the cosmos based on Ibn Arabi. His chart, based on the medieval geocentric model, combines a physical model of the cosmos with a metaphysical map of the relationship between humanity and the Divine. At the centre of the cosmos is the terrestrial sphere made up of the four elements. Around it turn the heavenly spheres which are the seven planets of Antiquity and the stars; then lies the archetypal world and beyond, the super-celestial realm which is the limit of what we can know.The representation of these 15 levels was studied right into the materials used, as each sphere is painted with a pigment associated with it (via the metal ruled by each planet).

Language of Love

A series mapping the range of feelings of and around love, in their various hues and intensities.

Compassion شفقWatercolour and metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“In this earth,in this immaculate field,we shall not plant any seedsexcept for compassion,except for love.”

— Rumi

Merging دمجWatercolour and metal leaf on Fabriano Artistico pa-per. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“I was dead, then alive.Weeping, then laughing.

The power of love came into me,and I became fierce like a lion,then tender like the evening star.”

— Rumi

Tender Love ومقWatercolour and metal leaf on Fabriano Artistico pa-per. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“I was dead, then alive.Weeping, then laughing.

The power of love came into me,and I became fierce like a lion,then tender like the evening star.”

— Rumi

Lovesickness ولهWatercolour and metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“Listen to the reed how it tells a tale, complaining of separations,Saying, ‘Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, my lament has caused man and woman to moan.It is only to a bosom torn by severance that I can unfold the pain of yearning.Everyone who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with it.”— Rûmi

Yearning رغبةWatercolour and metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“Listen to the reed how it tells a tale, complaining of separations,Saying, ‘Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, my lament has caused man and woman to moan.It is only to a bosom torn by severance that I can unfold the pain of yearning.Everyone who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with it.”— Rûmi

Nearness أنسWatercolour and metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“It is he who suffers his absence in meWho through me cries out to himself.Love’s most strange, most holy mysteryWe are intimate beyond belief.”— Rûmi

Fancy هوىWatercolour and metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

The Arabic word Hawâ shares with the English “fancy” the double meaning of “infatuation, sudden passion” and “whim, caprice”.

“Caprice هوى is a wind هواء that blows this way and that on the basis of the whims of the moment.” — William Chittick

Light & Dark

These pieces are all about interacting with light, achieving different qualities of luminosity or gloom through the manipulation of mediums and surfaces: absorbing light, reflecting it, diffusing it, casting shadows, and so on.

Light in the Darkness

Acrylic and interference medium on paper. 70 x 70 cm. Nov 2016.

Zalâm ظالم is “darkness”, and extends to mean “ignorance”. But if read with a slight emphasis that doesn’t affect the spelling, zallâm ظالم means: “absolutist, tyrant, dictator, a person advocating a totalitarian system, despotic, unjust”. Furthermore, once given a Kufi treatment, the word zalâm contained in its shapes the word diyâ’ ضياء, which is “light”.

The piece, then, is about the seed of light contained in the darkness. This is not a new idea: In the 5th century, Greek philosophers named enantiodromia the fact that anything that reaches its extreme turns into its opposite. Much earlier, the knowledge that opposite forces give birth to each other was symbolized by the Taijitu or “yin-yang symbol”.

The pattern made up of the word zalâm is debossed in the black background, barely visible, as it is written in shadow over darkness. Diyâ’ is painted in an interference medium, which is mostly transparent on its own but is revealed by light, and changes as the light changes.

Ironically, in the end, the small areas of light have much more presence than the mass of darkness: it takes very little light to dispel the deepest gloom.

Flashes لماعStainless steel, laser-cut, and acrylic on mount board, assembled on wood. 120 x 120 cm. 2015.

Lumâ’ is the plural of lam’a: gleam, flash, sparkle, glitter. The choice of word was inspired by the title of a book, Kitab al-Lumâ’ by al-Sarrâj, usually translated in a vivid way as “Book of Flashes” or “Book of Scintillating Lights”. The 144 words, laser-cut in stainless steel, are mounted at different angles to the surface, so that they don’t all reflect uniformly, but with the scintillating effect expressed by the word — particularly when the viewer is in motion near the piece.

Aspiration همةWall sculpture. Acrylic, pigment, interference col-ours on wood, laser-cut and hand-assembled. Ap-prox. 100 x 100 x 10 cm. 2015.

Himma is a complicated notion which cannot be translated by any one word. Spiritual aspiration would be one way of expressing it, but it has also been explained as “creative power of the heart”, “high ambition”, “concentration of energy”, “resolve” and “the heart’s intention”.Somehow my research of this deep concept was interwoven with dreams of intensely blue kingfisher birds. This dream image guided the design (which evokes rows of overlapping feathers) and set the colour scheme of electric blue and turquoise.

Cells خالياAcrylic on paper, hand cut, scored, folded, assem-bled on canvas. 122x122 cm. 2015.

The word khalya خلية, pl. خاليا khalâya, from a root which means “void, empty space”, refers to the cell, both in the body or in the beehive. The latter is the dominant note for this modular piece, which evokes simultaneously the cells filled with honey and the flowers that provided it. The geometry is relieved by the irregular gradation of the colours and by the variation within each hue. At the cen-tre, an empty space reminds us of the core mean-ing of the word; the whole piece is in itself one cell. The shadows, which change with the angle and intensity of the light, are a key element bring-ing the piece to life.

Truth Without Form

حق بدون شكل Acrylic, pigment, metal leaf on wood, laser-cut and assembled on wood. 122 x 122 cm. 2014.

“Truth Without Form” is a Sufi expression also found in Buddhism. Here the word Haqq, “truth” is deconstructed into its two component letters, made into the same shape, and scattered widely on a background with which they blend. But a hidden form can be guessed behind the apparent randomness, and a change of perspective makes the letters appear sharply as their golden edges are revealed... Forms hidden over a hidden form.

Genesis خلقAcrylic, interference colours and metal leaf on pa-per, hand-cut and assembled on canvas. 122 x 122 cm. 2015.

Khalq is creation, making, but also the created. There are several verbs in Arabic that express creating, with subtle distinctions between them, but khalaqa is the one used for the initial creative act, creation ex nihilo, hence the title “Genesis”.

Letters & Numbers

Exploring the letters as symbols in their own right, and in particular their numeric nature.

Eight Hundred

ضاد اللغةOakgall ink, cinnabar, egg tempera (all hand-prepared). 76 x 56 cm. 2016.

Arabic is called الضاد the“ ,لغة language of Dad”, because this letter supposedly exists in no other language. The numerical value of is 800, so I set out to create ضa pattern out of 800 letters, not mechanically but with a bamboo reed and ink, and no margin for any error. In a reversal of the deadening trend of traditional calligraphy, which consists in training the hand till it mechanically draws the exact same character every time, I gave each of these letters my full attention and intention, looking for its essence through imperceptible variations from one to the other: lengthening the tail, narrowing or widening the space inside the letter, rounding the angles, altering the line thickness The result is that they are all the same letter, but they are still all unique. This also created a variegated texture, with the feel of cloth hand-woven out of coarse-spun thread.

Dice نرد

Acrylic on wood, laser-cut, hand-assembled, painted and varnished. Base: Solid walnut, steam-bent and hand-carved.Cube 36 x 36 x 36 cm, total size approx. 51 x 51 x 57 cm. 2015.

Numbers and geometry come to the fore in this piece, where the numerical quality of the Arabic characters is remembered.The basic idea is simple: replacing the dots on the faces of a dice with the first six letters, each in a Square Kufi pattern harmonized with all the others. The humble dice is elevated to a whole new degree of visual interest and dynamic interaction of shapes. But the basic structure of the object is respected: the letters that add up to seven are placed opposite each other.The piece can be turned on any side, each angle of view offering a different colour palette.The base, a piece of art in its own right, takes the concept of number further, into the realm of geometry. The three ribs are the visible parts of the virtual sphere which encompasses the cube, and it shexagonal projection is given tangible form in the base. Thus all parts of the piece are in relationship to one another, with letters and shapes brought together by Number.

Heart & Mind

Inspired by human emotions, and the workings of the psyche.

Imagination خيالAcrylic and pigment on cut paper and wood. 50x50x4 cm. 2017.

The full mesmeric power of deep ultramarine blue is highlighted with gold in this dimensional piece, the gold dots wrapping around the edge.

Surrender تسليمAcrylic on wood. 40x40 cm. 2017.

Arcanum خفيAcrylic on wood. 40x40 cm. 2017.

The Arcanum is the fourth of the Lata’if, the “subtleties” of Sufi psychology also known as Chambers of the Heart. The original word for it, khafiy, means “hidden, concealed, unknown, unseen, invisible”. Its colour is black and it is associated with fanâ’, the extinction of the self.

Over a deep matte black, the design is painted in black which I made slightly iridescent: from certain angles, or under certain lights, the panel appears to be a plain black square, out of which the design appears, ghostly, as one moves.

Perplexity حيرةAcrylic and Gold leaf 23.75ct on paper, hand-cut, assembled on mount board. 64x64 cm. 2017.

The word here eludes any recognition unless you know it’s there. The pattern was cut out from a single sheet of black card, which casts even more confusing shadows where it is lifted, and enhanced with red dots and a single gold point.

Contraction قبضIndia ink and graphite pencil on mount board and cut paper, assembled on Saunders Waterford pa-per. 30x30 cm (framed: 38 x 38 cm). 2017.

Qabd means “contraction”, “constriction”, “closing”. In Sufism, this describes a diminution of self by withdrawing from the surface personality towards the inner; it is experienced as feelings of constriction, blockage and sadness.

I expressed the contraction by working with a small mass of black; the dots are strips of gold paper squeezed between and out of the black squares. Seeing them properly requires a change of perspective: one can then see that contraction, while uncomfortable, forces out our hidden gold.

Poetry شعرAcrylic, mica, metal leaf on Saunders Waterford paper. 50x50 cm. 2017.

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”— T.S. Eliot

Flight & Refuge

Diptych. Acrylic and sumi ink on Saunders Water-ford paper, hand-cut, assembled on mount board. 50x50 cm each. March 2017.

A response to the ongoing refugee tragedy. As is my practice, the work doesn’t specifically refer to the current situation but reflects back to the timeless story of fleeing and seeking refuge, enacted continually through human history.

Flight فرار: Chunks of paper are cut out of the gentle pencil grid of peaceful society, and moving away in such a disorderly manner it feels like there has been an explosion. They leave behind a gutted grid, evoking gutted buildings with the red of fire and blood. The more pieces are removed, the more fragile the grid left behind.

Refuge لياذ: The word evokes to me ships finding a safe harbo. This is expressed here with lost letters finding a space to moor – a space that is available and reserved for them, being being left by the cut out letter. The fragmented space of Flight has given way to the circle of wholeness. The previously threatening red now radiates at the heart of the composition like a warm sun or hearth fire.

Humanity إنسانAcrylic and watercolour on paper, cut, assembled on paper. 75 x 75 cm. 2016.

“Strive to become the true human being: one who knows love, one who knows pain. Be full, be humble, be utterly silent, be the bowl of wine passed from hand to hand.”~ Al Ansâri

Self-Veiling إلتباسLinocut print and gold leaf 23.75ct on paper, hand-assembled. 78x78 cm framed. 2016.

The Arabic word iltibâs, from the Semitic root l-b-s, “to clothe”, means “revetment”, but takes on the further meaning of “ambiguity”.

One of the Qur’anic Name of God is As-Sattâr, He Who Veils, and traditionally “70,000 veils of light and darkness” separate us from the Divine. According to some teachings, this Self-Veiling which allows humanity to forget the Divine is necessary for the exercise of free will; at the same time, to those able to see the signs of Unity in the many forms of the world, the veils reveal the very Essence they conceal. Iltibâs “both displays and distracts, reveals and hides.”

I used layers of Japanese paper stamped with the design: they are 7 in number, to symbolize the 70,000, and assembled so as to form a 7-sided geometric figure. Due to the layering, not all parts of the figure are equally visible, so that the pattern seems incomplete at first glance.

However, if you go beyond the first impression and look closer, you can just make out that there is an unified underlying pattern, even though the only way for it to be revealed in its fullness would be for a light to shine for you from the other side.

Eccentric I, II, III شاذTriptych. Acrylic on wooden panel. 50 x 50 x 4.5 cm each. 2016.

Shâdh literally means: “isolated, separated, anomalous, irregular, extraordinary, exceptional, curious, odd, eccentric, noncanonical.” Basically, off-centre, which is the idea explored in this series where the designs are seen by a viewer who is not centered (spatially or psychologically), but positioned on their outer edge. Not only do they spell out “deviant”, but they deviate from my usual work both by their perspective and their colour scheme.In earlier days the word shâdh was applied to Sufis, referring to the ecstatic utterances that resulted from an overpowering mystical state. Such exclamations were non-rational and controversial, going beyond the pale of conventional religion (for instance al-Hallaj’s exclamation “I am the Truth.”)

Attraction جذبAcrylic and metal leaf on paper, hand-cut and as-sembled on matte board. 50 x 50 x 3.5 cm. 2016.

Jadhb is a state of irresistible attraction, the passive participle of which, majdhûb, has come to mean “fool” in everyday language. In Sufism, this “path of attraction” is contrasted with the active “path of travel” (sulûk): jadhb is the quicker way, as it is to be “attracted toward God by God Himself”, like iron ore to the magnet.

Chambers of the Heart

لطائفAcrylic on paper, hand-cut, assembled on paper. 50 x 50 x 3.5 cm. 2016.

Sufi schools teach about subtle centres (lata’if, “subtleties”) present in the human body. They number ten; five outer and five inner. The inner five, depicted here, belong to our spiritual body and are located within the heart, inside one another, so that one goes deeper and deeper inward as one journeys towards truth. They are: Heart قلب, coloured yellow; Soul روح, red; Mystery سر, white; The Hidden خفي, black; The Most Hidden .green ,أخفى

Departure رحيلWall sculpture. Acrylic and interference colours on laser-cut wood. 160 x 160 cm (centre 30 x 30 cm). 2015.

There is a point in life where some feel the need to set out from the safety and structure of a familiar place, of a collective, or even of a well-built core of beliefs, to go out into the desert, into silence and the unknown, so transformation can begin.The lettering is built up to evoke a dense structure such as a city, from which fragile-looking tendrils shoot out into the emptiness of the wall. While very light both in weight and visually, the piece ful-ly occupies a wall, and casts interesting shadows. The colours are pearlescent so their appearance changes with the light.

Ecstasy وجدAcrylic and metal leaf on paper. 192 x 192 cm (made up of 16 pieces of 48 x 48 cm each). 2015.

While the design surprises at first with its appar-ent stasis, it reveals its magic through gazing: As one contemplates the square, which is a symbol of wholeness coming into consciousness, swirling patterns appear and begin their dance, with the dots floating over the paper.

Permanence بقاءGold leaf 23.75 ct and acrylic on wood, 40x40x2 cm. 2016.

Baqâ’ is a Sufi term describing the station of “abiding in God”, the return to the world that comes after the Annihilation of Fanâ’. Ibn Arabi describes it as “life with God, through God, in God, for God.”

The Provider الرزاقEgg tempera on oil paper. 50 x 50 cm. 2014.

At the root of this name is RZQ, from which comes the word rizq, “a gift of blessing from which all can benefit”.

Encirclement حصارAcrylic on paper, cut and assembled on mount board. 60 x 60 cm. 2014.

A play on the word Hissâr, “encirclement”, where calligraphy and geometry become one. The piece is three-dimensional, shaped like a shallow dome.

Jinn جنيAcrylic and metal leaf on paper. 50x50 cm. 2013.

The primary meaning of the word jinn is “hidden, invisible to the eye”, and the broad meaning of Jinn is the same as “the hidden folk”, referring to all kinds of beings we cannot see. The word can also refer to the invisible part of the human being, their inner world, as opposed to their visible body and actions.

Qur’anic lore is more specific in its description of Jinn. It reports that God created three races of ra-tional beings: Angels, Jinn and Men. Jinn are inter-mediate beings between the spiritual nature of the former and the earthly nature of the latter. They belong to the imaginal, the world of archetypes, and this may be why they are said to inspire artists and poets.

The notion of concealment, of elusiveness, drove my design: the word must be there, but where is it?

Nothingness عدمMetal leaf and ink on paper. 48x48 cm. 2012..

“There are moments of oneness with the Beloved, absolute ecstasy and bliss. That is nothingness. And this nothingness loves you, responds to you, ful-fills you utterly and yet there is nothing there. You flow out like a river, without diminishing. This is the great mystical experience, the great ecstasy.”~ Irina Tweedie

Poverty فقرWatercolour and metal leaf on paper. 50x50cm. 2012.

“Last night my teacher taught me the lesson of Poverty:Having nothing and wanting nothing.” ~ Rumi

To clarify, this doesn’t refer to external poverty, i.e. lacking the basic needs for a decent life. The spir-itual Poverty represented here is a state of com-plete selflessness, having no desires for oneself, and therefore being entirely in the service of the whole. This doesn’t even mean living in poverty (unless by choice), but instead one finds oneself keeping only what is needed, as the desire to own things vanishes entirely.

Jealousy غيرةMetal leaf, ink and gloss on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012..

“God is jealous, and one sign of His jealousy is that He does not clear any way through to Himself oth-er than Himself.” ~ Al-Hallâj

I don’t often use triangles, which are an “incom-plete” shape (3 is 1 short of wholeness), but their asperity imposed itself here and produced an in-teresting effect of a shape that looks folded upon itself.

Majesty جاللAcrylic, mica, metal leaf on paper. 48x48 cm. 2012.

“When one sees the Glory and Majesty of God in His Realm then all the lights become one light and the chest becomes full with this shining light.”~ Al-Hakim al-Tarmidi

Dread رهبةAcrylic, metal leaf and gloss on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

“For gazing towards Pre-eternity makes the heart unsettled and utterly overwhelms a man.”~ Ansâri

Concealed مكنونInk, acrylic, watercolour on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

Maknoon designates what has been concealed, “covered up and hidden away from the sun”, and by extension signifies the obscure and arcane, the innermost secret.

Sorrow حزنAcrylic and metal leaf on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

“Inspired by love’s sorrow, the minstrel sang outSuch an ode that the eyelashes of the world’sPhilosophers streamed tears of blood.” ~ Hâfiz

Pain ألم

Acrylic and metal leaf on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

“Pain and happiness have the same shape in this world: You may call the rose an open heart, or a broken heart.” ~ Dard

Patience صبر

Acrylic and metal leaf on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

“Do you have the patience to waittill your mud settles and the water is clear?Can you remain unmovingtill the right action arises by itself?”~ Lao Tsu

Despair يأسAcrylic and metal leaf on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

“You’ll be free from the trap of your being, when, through spiritual need, You’re trodden underfoot, like a mat, in the mosque and the wine house.” ~ Sanâ’i

Ya’s is despair, the color of which is commonly perceived as black (“in black despair”); the little brightness there may be, deep in the center, seems hopelessly blocked.

Repentance توبة

Ink and metal leaf on paper. 50x50 cm. 2012.

“Repentance is the signpost on the path, the lead-er of the kingdom, the key to the treasure, the in-termediary that assists you to become united with God, the condition for being accepted to the di-vine presence, and the secret of all happiness.”~ Ansari

Limited EditionsScreen prints are hand-printed and of a very fine quality enhanced with gold and silver ink, on 40% cotton paper. They are signed and numbered, and come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Takbîr تكبير

Silkscreen printing with metal leaf added by hand. 50x50 cm.

Available: 14 out of 21

Etiquette أدبSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 19 out of 33

Divine Love عشقSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 13 out of 33

Annihilation فناءSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 29 out of 33

Remembrance ذكرSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 7 out of 33

Happiness سعادةSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 15 out of 33

Longing شوقSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 20 out of 33

Secret/Mystery سرSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 17 out of 33

Stillness سكونSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 17 out of 33

Silence سكوتSilkscreen printing. 44x44 cm.

Available: 28 out of 33

Sold PiecesThe following pieces are no longer available but new pieces in a similar style can be commissioned.

Coniunctio اقترانUnryu metal paper, hand-cut, and watercolour on paper. 76 x 56 cm

This piece started out as another depiction of a cosmological system, with the golden Sun شمس intersecting the silver Moon قمر, but ended up reflecting an alchemical theme. Sun and Moon here are not the physical or even astrological objects, but age-old symbols of the opposites: day and night, masculine and feminine, outer and inner, yang and yin... Coniunctio oppositorum is the alchemical term describing the union of these opposites, of which is born an integrated wholeness no longer split by duality.The cut paper is assembled so that each ring is on a separate plane slightly inclined towards the background, furthest from it where it goes over the other, nearly touching it where it goes under.

Light نورAcrylic, pigments on wood and matte board, laser and hand-cut, assembled on wood. 120 x 120 cm. 2015.

Noor is Light; brightness, gleam, glow, illumination. It is hardly necessary to expand on the symbolism of light across history and cultures, but in the Islamic tradition, Light is one of the ninety-nine Divine Attributes: “God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.” Noor is designed as a radiating and radiant mandala. The tails of the ر and و create a delicate interlace evocative of a “web of light”. Finished with light-catching iridescent pigment, the word floats and shimmers over a dark backdrop of subtle geometry, the latter evoking the invisible yet universal Order behind all things.

Being & Non-Being وجود وعد

Acrylic, cut paper on canvas, 100x100cm. 2016.

A reflection on the relationship of Being and Non-Being, inspired by a talk on Dark Matter. Completely undetectable, “dark matter” is nevertheless inferred from the gravitational pull of galaxies, and the resulting lensing effect. I was struck by the fact that visible matter makes up only 5% of the mass of the universe. Hence a tiny Being at the centre of the canvas, which is otherwise filled with Non-Being. It is white on white because the paper equivalent of the black emptiness of space is whiteness. The word stretched into a green ring can just be guessed: a faint glimpse, revealed as if through gravitational lensing, of what lies much further out, beyond the Nothingness — what Sufis call Absolute Truth.

Remover of Fear المؤمنAcrylic and metal leaf on wood, 122x122 cm.

2015.

One of the Divine attributes, al-Mu’min is difficult to translate, and can be equally rendered as: the Giver of Tranquillity, the Source of Faith, the Guarantor, the Affirming.

The design is highly stylized, with a unique central mîm for all 6 repetitions of the word, I used different levels of elevation for the reading to descend from that centre to the 6 nûn. Pure ultramarine pigment is mixed in with the acrylic to achieve a deep velvety colour.

Before Alif ما قبل األلفAcrylic on paper, ink on mountboard. 50x100 cm

framed. 2014.

Alif is the first letter in the Arabic alphabet, and possesses deeper symbolism than any other letter. Among other things, the Alif signals the appear-ance of the first dimension, out of a reality of no dimension, and in this mono-dimensional reality it resides entirely alone, as anything other than a straight line has moved to a two-dimensional plane of reality. Can anything be said, let alone shown, about what came before, this unimaginable zero-dimensional Point?As it happens, unmanifested reality, or “the place of God before creation”, has also been discussed at length. It is called ‘Ama عماء, the “Blindness”, and is much vaster and fuller than the known world, since it contains all possible potentials.

I had long thought this notion was too transcendent to depict, until this image dropped readymade into my mind. It evokes the richness and scale of what is hidden in ‘Ama with a geometric pattern layered in different levels, black on black, that crystallizes into the primordial Alif – sharply defined, but flat in comparison.

Who Am I? من أنا؟Acrylic on paper, hand-cut and assembled on can-vas. 122x122 cm. 2014.

Ana انا is the enormous word in blue that strikes the eye first. But if we come closer, or look from a different angle, it disappears, dissolves into hun-dreds of puzzle pieces that turn out to be other pronouns: he, she, it, they... (هو هما هم هي هما -What “I” believed to be “me”, is really an ac .(هنcumulation of things that are not “I” at all: soci-ety, parents, siblings, teachers, friends`– they all have contributed to bury my real nature. There is no shortcut to rediscovering the latter: Which-ever road we take, identifying and peeling away these layers one by one is a long and demanding process, here enacted by the long labour of cutting these 432 pieces individually.

Qâf قافWatercolour, metal leaf on cut paper, assembled on canvas. 122x122 cm. 2014

Qâf is an intriguing letter, which crops up in sig-nificant places: as an isolated letter in the Qur’ân, or as the name of a mythical mountain that is the goal of a long journey in Attâr’s Conference of the Birds. This piece is made out of a single sheet of paper, painted and cut, then assembled to create subtle changes in level above which rises the head of the letter, emulating Mount Qâf and the seven valleys that must be crossed to reach it. Thus the moun-tain is at the centre of the world while simultane-ously encircling it.

Ad Infinitum إلخWatercolour, metal leaf on cut paper. 120x120 cm.

2014.

The Arabic language is not fond of abbreviations, but we do have the fascinating إلخ, equivalent of Latin “etc”. Reflecting this, the design is based on a traditional harmonic pattern of Islamic geometry, that can be extended indefinitely. The words are oriented so as to create a rotational movement in a specific direction (that of reading, spearheaded by the golden dots), and each square is cut out and its corner lifted to reveal a flash of contrasting green underneath, so that the piece comes alive as the viewer moves.

One to Nine ابجدهوزحطAcrylic on mattboard, cut, assembled. 59x59 cm. 2015.

The Arabic letters were originally numbers as well, starting with Alif=1 and ending with Ghayn=1000. This puts them in even closer relationship with geometry, which is the unfolding of numbers in space. This piece marks the beginning of an exploration of this relationship, in the medium of cut paper which creates both shadows and highlights. The edge of the letters themselves is painted in increasingly intense turquoise.