philosufi

Pattern Recognition: The Islamically Inspired MC Escher

Portal of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain showing reflective and
translational symmetries and decoration with complex tessellations

Anyone who has known me for a while knows how much I love the work of Dutch graphic artist MC Escher. While his work is extremely popular and well-recognized (though many might not know his name), what a lot of people don't realize is that Escher was deeply inspired by Islamic art.

Of the four famous Escher drawings above, only one directly ties into the Islamic inspiration.

Hopefully the tiles above helped answer that question. The tiles are actually a painting done by Escher, based on one of the Alhambra tile patterns. I replicated it to show the extended tessellation pattern more clearly; the actual painting is only one tile. (That makes what I did above…reptiling!) [Deborah, please don't edit that out. It's the highlight of my comedy career.] Escher visited the Alhambra first in 1922 and again in 1936. His work was never the same again.

Prior to 1937, his work was representational, but the effect of seeing the Alhambra was that Escher's work began to incorporate the stunningly intricate and complex mathematics of Islamic geometric patterns. He described tessellations, a mathematical term for tiling without any empty spaces or overlaps, as "the richest source of inspiration that I have ever tapped." Escher's third major period began in 1946 where he used perspective to great effect, creating impossible situations such as Waterfall. By 1956 he began focusing on the infinite, in works such as Snakes and these infinite tessellations below:

Escher considered it a pity that the tessellations were restricted to figures with abstracted geometrical shapes, thinking maybe even it had never occurred to the Moorish artist to use recognizable figures. Personally, I think what people can create with restrictions/guidelines (self-imposed or otherwise) can be infinitely amazing and inspiring.

Fatih Gelgi wrote a wonderful article entitled "The Influence of Islamic Art on M.C. Escher" for The Fountain, the magazine of the Gulen movement, in which I found this:

In Islamic art, the spiritual world is regarded as being reflected in nature through geometry and rhythm. Hence, Islamic artists used geometry as an aid to raise their spiritual understanding as well as the viewer's.

Gelgi quotes the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts:

Muslim intellectuals recognized in geometry the unifying intermediary between the material and the spiritual world. These patterns may be seen as symbolizing the Islamic principles of 'Tawhid' (the unity of all things) and 'Mizan' (order and balance), which are the laws of creation in Islam.

The kicker is the following beautiful insight that will likely stick with me forever, because it so perfectly puts into words what I have always felt when looking at either Escher's work, or Islamic architecture's stunning geometrical expressions of the divine (a sacred and meditative geometry in its own right):

Tessellations are one of the major components of Islamic art. Islamic artists mastered regular division of plane using, in particular, circles on triangular or square grids, because the circle – which has no beginning and no end and thus symbolizes infinity – was considered to be the most perfect geometric form. In mosques, where a wealth of these geometric patterns could be found, one could contemplate the infinite nature of God simply by looking at the walls or ceiling. In short, these geometric forms expressed Islamic artists' fascination with mathematics as a metaphor for divine order and presence.

Look at these few incredible examples of Islamic artistry:

La Mezquita (The Cathedral-Mosque of Córdoba)

Alhambra tile tessellations

Detail of tiles in the Alhambra

Alhambra "magical ceiling"

Escher was a mathematical, artistic, architectural, and communicative genius. But let's remember the Muslim artists and mathematicians who hand-carved the tiles. They did the heavy math – and the heavy lifting – hundreds of years before Escher, Penrose, and others. These inspired Muslims worked to great and lasting positive effect, long before their techniques' "discovery" by Europeans. Islam's arguably most-known and strangely least-acknowledged visual brand – by those who wish to believe Islam is nothing but barbarians wielding swords – is its geometric artistry and its indelible impact on art, architecture, and history. It's almost as if acknowledging the mindblowing beauty of these rivals to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or Notre Dame might somehow bring to light that Islam isn't a religion of crazed maniacs and bloodthirsty freaks. It's actually a way of life that values contemplation, peace, beauty, order, unity, and balance.

Sukoon for Your Cocoon: Sakina Design

Late last year, at the second American Muslim Consumer Conference, Miles Young, CEO of Ogilvy and Mather (which recently launched Ogilvy Noor, the world’s first full-service Islamic Branding consultancy), told the audience:

Islam is not strongly enough associated, in this country, with design: with graphic design, with the arts, with fashion or creative design. And in this sense it differs from the minority Muslim communities in Europe and certainly from the majority Muslim communities. And let me tell you, art and design diffuse fear. They normalize, they soften...

We couldn’t agree more. So I want to tell you about an American company that is working to correct this tendency, taking a fresh approach to design and decor for the Muslim market.

 Sakina Design  is a California-based family-owned company producing stylish and appealing decor and gifts for Muslims with a modern, North American sensibility. Sakina Design’s website describes their approach to business:

The approach that guides Sakina Design is summarized by the word ihsan. Ihsan is the Islamic concept of perfection and excellence. The Qur'an teaches that inner faith should be reflected in deeds and actions, and that social responsibility is another manifestation of this faith.

Therefore, our approach centers on providing customers with excellent products that adhere to Islamic values and principles. We ensure that the materials that go into our products are top quality, and we make every effort to minimize harm to the environment. We use recycled and recyclable materials, and give back to the community by donating a portion of our sales to charity. Please see our Sakina Green page for additional information about our commitment to the environment.

I somehow stumbled across the company last summer, while I was in the throes of preparing for a number of family weddings, including Neman’s sister’s. As soon as I saw Sakina’s pieces of wall art, inspired by classical Islamic art and calligraphy, I knew they would make a perfect wedding gift for his sister and her husband-to-be. His sister has travelled through Turkey and Spain, among many other places, and I knew she loves Turkish art—she was incorporating Turkish tile imagery into her wedding décor—and loved the Alhambra. So I ordered the Iznik  and Alhambra wall decor pieces immediately. Jontie of Sakina Design was incredibly helpful. The Alhambra piece was not in stock at the time I wanted it—Jontie said it’s been their most popular pattern—but a production run was about to take place, and he asked his producer make some Alhambra pieces first. While I was at it, I ordered one of each of the greeting cards, too.

Everything arrived very quickly and in perfect condition—I had been worried that the pieces, which are glass, could arrive broken. But everything was packed perfectly and there were no problems. Shipping was incredibly cheap—$10  USD if I recall correctly—but I should warn other Canadian customers: the duty and taxes were somewhat gobsmacking. So you will want to budget for our government’s pound of flesh. But it was worth it. Everything was absolutely beautiful—I wanted to keep the gifts for ourselves! Every piece was attractive, well-made, and good quality. The wall art works in both traditional and contemporary interiors. The square shape and manageable size of the wall art pieces contributes to their versatility in interiors (see Sakina Design's Decorating Tips page for several photos of how they can be combined and displayed).

I was glad I’d ordered some of the greeting cards; they are even finer than they look on the website.  You may not be able to tell from some of the images, but the greeting card designs are not printed: they’re laser-cut overlays on coloured paper. They come with several inserts for the covers, both pre-printed (in English on one side and Arabic on the other), as well as some blank ones so you can inscribe your own greeting or salutation. And Jontie had generously included several Sakina bookmarks, which are as nicely made as everything else, and are currently gracing various books in progress.

Recently, Sakina Design has partnered with master calligrapher Haji Noor Deen. He has created creating a stunning fusion of Arabic and Chinese calligraphy for a new Sakina Design piece with the theme of tranquility. Check it out: it reads both vertically (in Chinese) and horizontally (in Arabic).

If you are searching for unique and tasteful items to give as gifts or keep for yourself,  I strongly recommend Sakina Design’s products. I am looking forward to ordering some wall art for our own home when we have the funds (maybe as a graduation gift to myself). In the meantime, I will enjoy seeing it at my sister-in-law’s place, and I look forward to each new item from this company.

• Sakina Design's Facebook page

 Do you know a company making stylish products for the Muslim market? Drop us a line!

 
This article was unsolicited and Philosufi has not received any consideration for it.

"Back Up!": Artist Anida Yoeu Ali

If you haven't heard about Khmer Muslim artist Anida Yoeu Ali, listen up. The Cambodian-born, Chicago-raised woman is an interdisciplinary artist; she describes herself as a "performance artist, writer, and global agitator." Ali's work explores issues related to identity, particularly hybridity and transnationality. She recently completed an MFA in Performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As part of her work there, she put together a multi-faceted installation called The 1700% Project--the title of which refers to the post-September 11 increase in hate crimes against people perceived to be Arab or Muslim in the US.

The 1700% Project is collaborative, and consists of a poem, a video (below), audio recording, performances, and installation. In June, the video The 1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim, which was directed, edited, and shot by Ali's husband Masahiro Sugano, won the $25,000 grand prize in the One Chicago, One Nation Online Video Contest. It also won the $5,000 prize in the music video/spoken word/animation category. 

The whole project is a powerful statement against racial profiling of Muslims and the crimes of hate and violence that accompany the practice. In May 2010, when she was first mounting the installation, Ali's own art became the subject of a hate crime. She returned five days after painting the installation to find that the work itself had been the target of racist vandals. It had been defaced with large caricatures and a dialogue balloon emphasizing a particular part of her text: the phrase "Kill all Arabs." Here are images of the work before and after the defacement.

Ali wrote on the 1700% blog about the traumatic experience of discovering and trying to deal with the defacement: Articulating the Assault. Ali really had no choice but to alter her intended project to incorporate the experience of being targeted by racists; to try, as she puts it, to turn an act of defacement into an act of defiance:

My original performance was going to entail a scheduled performance of the text followed by a public staining of the walls. The point of the “1700% Project: Otherance” has always been to make what is seemingly invisible more visible. However, based on this recent incident, I am responding by modifying the performance to include a facilitated dialogue with faculty, students, the public and the communities to which these acts of hate and bias crimes address. The “1700% Project: Otherance” is a politically charged art installation that cannot be silenced and disrupted in this manner. During Saturday’s performance I am asking for the public to join me in the staining process — to transform the marks of vandalism and hate into acts of collective healing and reclamation. This is a call to action to respond as a community within and beyond the borders of SAIC. This is not just an assault on me as an artist, this is an attack on multiple communities to which the work speaks for.

Take note, racist fools: Ali is not someone you can screw with. She is a force to be reckoned with. She is fierce.

Don't miss her correspondence with the administrators of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, about their apathy and indifference. Very disappointing "response" on their part. How gratifying that she went on to win the grand prize in that video contest.

Ali has other great things to check out: her personal blog, Atomic Shogun, which she's been keeping for five years, and where you can find out about past performances and artworks; and the spoken word CDs, books, and anthologies she's created or contributed to, which you can buy here. (I love the cover for I Was Born with Two Tongues.) Whatever you do, be sure to watch this video. And then watch it again: it deserves (and rewards) multiple viewings. I've already watched it about seven times, and it holds up. (You can find the poem/text of the video here.) Can't wait to see what she does next.
   

I’m Too Sexy For This Burqa: The NiqaBitches

France's burqa ban (more of a niqab ban, but you can't beat the power of alliteration) continues to make news. At the end of September, a video was released of two female students in Paris walking through the city "wearing a burka and mini-shorts." Young, twentysomething women baring the bottom halves of their bodies all over Paris, but with a harsh niqab on top. In other words, a perfect media event, sacred and profane, in a hot pair of French shoes. The anonymity provided by the full face coverings has extended to the online world; they are largely operating under virtual niqab as @NiqaBitch on Twitter, and by the same name on YouTube. We don't know a lot yet, but one says she is Muslim, and both say they are political science and communications students.

What was their motivation to pull off this guaranteed attention-getter?

"To put a simple burka on would have been too simple. So we asked ourselves: 'How would the authorities react when faced with women wearing a burka and mini-shorts? We were not looking to attack or degrade the image of Muslim fundamentalists – each to their own – but rather to question politicians who voted for this law that we consider clearly unconstitutional. To dictate what we wear appears to have become the role of the State (as if they didn't have other fish to fry …)."

Fair enough. France and other countries are conducting their own jihad with hijab. In France's case, choosing to wear more clothing will be punishable by a fine of 150 euros and possibly re-education camp citizenship lessons. (This from the country that gave us Voltaire?) Here in Ontario, it's the 19th anniversary of Gwen Jacob winning the right for women to go topless in public. At some point, like maybe a few thousand years ago, the state – and men – should have stopped dictating what women wear. Left to their own devices, it's clear women are fully capable of choosing the worst possible clothing imaginable. (Oh man... did I just wreck my own argument or what?)

There's always the security argument to be made; if you can't see the person's face, you have a difficult time identifying who they are, and they can vanish anonymously into a crowd. Sounds like a pretty good argument for banning Santa Claus outfits to me.

The video reinforces a few things very clearly. People aren't comfortable with niqab. Women are encouraged to be sex objects. Putting them together just blows the citizenry's circuits. It also questions the definitions that the law enforcers will have to deal with. If someone walks around town naked but for a head covering, will the police charge them, and with what? Is the law meant to further the emancipation of women, or is it meant to target certain religious groups and lock in one way of being French?

Regardless of the intentions of these women, or those who staged pro-topless rallies here in Ontario, the men gawking for a glance of something yummy always outnumber men appearing in solidarity. For reasons I can't figure out how to state, that always reduces the value of the action, probably because the spectators won't be engaged in the discourse. (Special shout-out to those men who come to such rallies bringing videocameras: Are you really so sad and pathetic that creeping is what does it for you? What do you do with the videotape when you get home? Good lord, don't answer that.) Disclaimer: Of course I'd take pictures of an occurrence like this. Anyone who looks at my photos on Facebook knows I'm taking pix all the time. But I'd like to point out that none of the men below are me; it should be clear as none of them are using a BlackBerry or wearing a Soccer Imam T-shirt, which makes me further question their morality.

On the video, most of the men shown were actually talking to the NiqaBitches, and probably learning more than leering. But of course there were those too. Hey, this is supposed to be confusingly sexy. If no one paid attention or gave a second glance, they wouldn't be making their point.

The state can really just bug off here. The number of Muslim women this law is targeted at is very low. The harm they're causing others or themselves is probably negligible. Like other niqab bans around the world, the power of the state is being used to hit a statistically insignificant target with really high visibility.

For your viewing pleasure, we present to you: The NiqaBitches (with their original Beastie Boys soundtrack)! (Editorial note: Lyrics not work-safe.) Click here if the video fails to play.

 

Finally, a set of well-presented arguments and much deeper thoughts than mine entitled Does NiqaBitch Enrich the Burqa Ban Debate? at MuslimahMediaWatch. Enjoy!

(Yet another editorial note: The French ban on facial veiling cleared its last legal hurdle yesterday.)

 

There Will Be Dervishes: RumiFest 2010

If you don’t already know, RumiFest 2010 is coming up soon in Toronto! It's happening Saturday, October 23, 2010, 6:30 p.m. at Trinity-St. Paul Centre in the Bloor-Spadina area of Toronto.

Coleman Barks , the preeminent English translator of Rumi will be there. Guitarist Garo Altinian will perform. There will be a special guest performance by sitar virtuoso Irshad Khan.  There will be an art exhibit. And there will be dervishes. The whirling kind, with Sufi music.

And we’ll be there, too, wearing—what else?—our Sufi winged heart T-shirt.  (We might even have a few extras on hand to sell.)

Tickets are available now online ($30 floor, $20 balcony.) Don't wait until that night to get yours. Should be a fantastic evening...let’s pack the place, people!

 

Visualizing Whirled Peace: Dervish Mira Hunter

   

Dervishes Mira Hunter, left, and Tanya Evanson

The other day, in the Islamic Mysticism class I am taking this term, my prof showed a documentary called Sufi Soul: The Mystical Music of Islam.  As narrator William Dalrymple trips around India, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, and Turkey, I was fascinated to see a brief interview with a very cool Turkish musician who (among other monikers) goes by the name Mercan Dede (more about him in an upcoming entry); and even more excited to see that one of the performers with whom he frequently collaborates is a Canadian visual artist and second-generation whirling dervish, Mira Hunter.

There aren’t exactly vast numbers of female dervishes so naturally I wanted to learn more about her. Her full name is Emine Mira Ava Hunter (née Burke), but I’m going with the name she uses for her URL: Mira Hunter. Reading her richly detailed website, I was reminded that I also saw her briefly in German-Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akin’s documentary on the Istanbul music scene, Crossing the Bridge: The Sounds of Istanbul.  If you’re not familiar with the tradition of whirling, she’s got a good short history of whirling on her site that will get you up to speed.

It’s hard not to be impressed with the bewildering array of creative projects and performances she presents on her site. One of my favourites is the project she did with her father and teacher, Raqib Brian Burke, who is also a dervish. It’s based on the notion of whirling as a form of healing ceremony. Hunter says that her “intention with this effort is to bring that energy to places in need.” They’ve started with the lower east side of Vancouver, a neighbourhood she describes as "mired in human hardship" (many Vancouverites probably have less charitable descriptions). You can see some photos from that project here, here, and here.

As if all this were not enough, she’s also an environmentalist, involved in a number of innovative projects, like the Waterpod, a self-sustaining home on water.

Until September 25, Hunter is performing at the Festival of New Dance in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her 2008 installation piece Time Machine (created with her husband, artist Derek Hunter) will be presented every day. In addition, along with members of the community who have participated in her two-day Whirling Intensive training, she will offering a group presentation of the Whirling Dervish technique. I realize most of you won’t be able to attend this festival, but keep an eye out for her in your parts, and in the meantime, let yourself be mesmerized by this gorgeous video of Hunter performing to the music of Mercan Dede:

 

If you have any trouble with the video, please click here to watch it in another window.

Double Marginality: the Arabic “Calligraffiti” of eL Seed

Respect Your Elders by eL Seed

You might think you’ve seen Arabic calligraphy or Islamic art, but you probably haven't seen it like this: beautifully spray-painted fifteen feet high high on brick walls in the street, on canvases in art galleries, and on hoardings at festivals. Oh, and on the coolest skateboard ever.

eL Seed is a talented Tunisian artist, born in France and now living in Canada, who describes his work as “Arabic Inspired Street Painting.” It’s equal parts classical Arabic calligraphy, Islamic art, modern graffiti and urban sensibility. From his website (where you can see lots of his work under the sections Street, Canvas, and Video):

His art is a mixture of street art and Arabic Calligraphy. It is the product of a double marginality, that of an oriental art seeking a voice in the occidental world, and that of street art struggling to legitimize its presence on the contemporary art scene. This duality enables the reconciling of two supposedly opposing worlds and two supposedly clashing cultures.

He elaborates further on his blog:

eL Seed perceives Arabic calligraphy as a tangible expression of his search for identity. Throughout his work, myriad paths intersect and mirror the multiple sources of inspiration which nourish his art. Emanating from this confusion is an amalgam of harmony and balance.

And this is cool: just as I was writing this piece, eL Seed posted on his Facebook page a video of the production of the piece above, Respect Your Elders. Among things, it shows that in addition to spray paint, he uses paint rollers to get those big solid black strokes of calligraphy. I was wondering about that.

eL Seed was at MuslimFest in Mississauga, Ontario a few weeks ago, and we missed him! We hadn’t yet discovered him. (Mental note: next time, read the program guide more carefully.) We could only stay a couple of hours at the beginning of the event on Saturday. As we were leaving, we actually noticed a guy just starting to paint something on a wall that had been specially set up, and watched him curiously for a few moments before leaving. I’m so bummed that we missed seeing more of eL Seed in action, and seeing the final product in person. Here’s a link to eL Seed's MuslimFest photo album on his Facebook page and here’s a nice shot of the finished piece which "invites  viewers to reflect on the contribution of all the different civilizations in the creation of humanity and our common histories":

Fantastic. eL Seed is an artist whose evolution I will avidly watch.

"God is beautiful and loves beauty": Mormon artist sculpts the 99 names of God

 

 

Andrew Kosorok's Al-Jabbar (The Compeller)

Andrew Kosorok is a Mormon glass artist based in Provo, Utah who has undertaken an ambitious and unusual project: to create 99 glass sculptures representing each of the 99 most beautiful names of God. Kosorok, who also teaches at Brigham Young University, will make a hundredth sculpture to represent all the names. He expects to complete the project by the end of 2012.

Kosorok became intrigued with Islam and the 99 names after the September 11 attacks. He conceived of the project as a “way to heal [his] own ignorance” and encourage dialogue and understanding. Each name represents a different divine attribute, from Al-Adl (the Just, the Equitable) to Al-Zahir (the Manifest, the Evident). In keeping with traditional Islamic prohibitions against portraying God or the prophets, Kosorok is creating abstract sculptures which incorporate such Islamic elements as geometric figures. Each glass sculpture is no larger than a cubic foot and takes about 80-100 hours to make. He says:

I found that the names are designed to help you focus your prayers, specifically your gratitude and beseeching. And when I applied that to my own prayers, it was like opening a door that I never knew existed. I was able to express the gratitude that I felt even more fully. It helped give more focus to my own prayers and helped me pray with more precision.

You can see more of the finished sculptures here and read more of Kosorok’s thoughts on his intentions and process here.

I am fascinated by non-Muslim artists (like Sandow Birk, whom we featured last week) who are engaging with the Qur’an and other traditional sources of Muslim spirituality to create powerful works of art that speak to a diverse audience. As a religious studies major, I am deeply impressed with people who devote this much time, attention, and energy to encountering and understanding scripture and other religious material, and then creatively expressing their experience, especially if they are engaging with a tradition they do not personally claim. As a Muslim, I am humbled and honoured by the respect and dedication of such non-Muslim artists. And as a human being, I consider it a blessing to live in a world where this is possible. (And I would love to hear about Muslim artists doing the same thing – if you know of any, please post about them in the comments!)

I hope I have the chance to see them all Kosorok’s sculptures exhibited together someday, and I really hope some publisher will issue a beautifully photographed and printed monograph on the project.

There is a hadith (saying of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh) to the effect that anyone who memorizes all the 99 names would enter Paradise. I have tried (intermittently) for some years to memorize all the names, but it’s a challenge. I imagine by the end of this project, Andrew Kosorok will not only have them all memorized, but will never forget them.

Sandow Birk's American Qur'an

 

 American artist Sandow Birk’s body of work is diverse and distinctive. An artist and filmmaker of note who frequently tackles challenging subject matter—from prisons to empire to the war in Iraq—he recently took on what is likely to be his most controversial project to date: American Qur’an. Using copyright-free English translations of the Qur’an, Birk (who is not Muslim) is engaged in the process of creating a nearly 250-page artwork that will ultimately present all 114 suras (chapters). It is a hand-lettered version featuring illustrations—not of God, or the Prophet Muhammad—but scenes of contemporary American life. The art combines particularly American stylistic elements (such as a font derived from grafitti tagging) with traditional elements of Persian miniatures and Arabic art, creating a completely original response to the Qur’an.

At first glance, it seems an undertaking bound to provoke the same kind of reaction as the Danish cartoon controversy. But Birk has researched and contemplated the project extensively and respectfully. He is deeply and seriously engaging with the text in a manner which, frankly, many more Muslims (myself included) could stand to do…to say nothing of the rabid Islamophobes who are always quoting things out of context, and raging about a scripture they haven’t remotely attempted to grasp.

It is generally understood among Muslims that the Qur’an is only the Qur’an in Arabic; translations, no matter how outstanding, scholarly, or well-intentioned, are not considered to be equivalent. Birk is not doing anything with what Muslims consider actual scripture, and nothing here (in my semi-scholarly opinion) comes close to blasphemy. He is challenging himself to encounter and respond to the message of the Qur’an as conveyed in English. From his website:

At a time when the United States is involved in two wars against Islamic nations and declares itself to be in a cultural and philosophical struggle against Islamic extremists, American artist Sandow Birk’s latest project considers the Qur’an as it was intended – as a universal message to humankind. If the Qur’an is indeed a divine message to all peoples, he ponders, what does it mean to an individual American in the 21st Century? How does the message of the Qur’an relate to us, as Americans, in this life, in this time? What is this message that we have spent so much blood and treasure fighting against, and how can the message of the Qur’an be applied to contemporary American life? In short, what might the Qur’an mean to contemporary Americans?

I think his work deserves to be seriously and thoughtfully engaged by Muslims, especially those who know the Arabic Qur’an well. Has its timeless, universal message emerged in Birk’s work? Does Birk’s art help us to understand that message in a new way? Does his work connect with people who might not otherwise hear or understand the message? Does it open our minds to new possibilities?

As Birk says in a 2009 New York Times article about the project: “The Koran is supposed to be a message from God,” he said. “If God is speaking to human beings, I should be able to pick up this book and think about it. I should be able to contemplate what it means to me.”

A showing of some of the works of American Qur’an opens Sept. 10 at PPOW Gallery in New York and runs until October 9. I wish I could attend this showing, and I can’t wait to be able to see the entire project exhibited. Here is one of his pages, for Sura 100, Al-Adiyat (The Chargers). You can see quite a few others on his website.