The Illuminate Collection - My Response

 

A vital part of the Project was finding healing for myself through Art. As humans tend to do, I started this Project from a very personal place. Having experienced mental health challenges myself, I sought out and planned events where I could create dialogue and explore the subject matter, but through the lens of people from my community, whilst weaving in Faith, Psychology and Philosophical and Spiritual viewpoints on the subject.

As I started conducting my research, and reading literature around depression in Islam, I discovered that at one point Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Bliessing be upon Him) experienced a period of despair and feeling low. This was when He had not received any form of revelation for a period of six months. He began to doubt himself, and feel as though Allah had forsaken Him. This was when the Chapter “The Morning Brightness” - (Surah Duha) was revealed.

When I came across this I began to dig deeper into the meanings behind Surah Duha, this special chapter. For if it was revealed to the best of mankind when He was going through a period of intense sadness, surely it’s teachings are applicable until the end of time.

And so, when I started to plan my response, I “deconstructed” the entire 11 verses of the Chapter, and sought to create a body of work which would showcase the meanings behind these sacred verses.

I completed 9 works on paper, each on handmade indigo wasli paper, carefully sourced from Artisans in India, with the use of genuine 23.5 k gold leaf, hand ground pigment paints from India and diamond dust.

During the Project, I had the pleasure of working alongside Safura Houghton, from the Lantern Initiative. Safura supported by leading guided meditation sessions, and giving participants an insight into Islamic Psychology and how a holistic approach of balance within the body, heart and mind are vital to emotional, mental and physical wellbeing.

It was during one of these sessions that the concept of “Khudi” was touched upon. Intrigued, I decided to do some more research into the concept, and unearthed that Allama Iqbal, the famous Poet and Philosopher, wrote at great length about Khudi.

In English it would go on to be translated as “Essence”, and He emphasised that all humans had the capacity to reach their highest potential.

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi would talk at length about “self-annililation”, yet Allama Iqbal spoke of “self-actualisation”.

What was a common thread was that only through breaking open the vessel (the heart), could it be filled with Divine Light and guidance.

Allama Iqbal goes on to say:

“The heart is like a mirror. Do not prevent it from being broken. It’s breakage is more dearer in the sight of its maker (i.e Allah), than its safety.”

And Mevlana says, “The wound is where the light enters”.

Furthermore, the exploration of Kintsugi techniques wove its way into my response. Kintsugi is the Japanese artform of mending broken pottery using gold. It's a centuries-old practice that highlights the repair rather than hiding it. And this really appealed to me in the way it shares the perspectives of Islamic principles on experiencing difficulty.

By highlighting the fractures in the mended pottery, one would be celebrating the beauty within brokenness. It felt poetic, almost in the sense that the broken (mended) object was telling it’s story proudly, by showcasing the scars instead of hiding them.

And so I thought of how I could introduce elements from nature within this body of work. Having previously used wood slices, seashells, rocks and twigs as part of mixed-media paintings, I was intrigued by the symbolism of eggshells and how it could be applicable to this collection.

The egg symbolises the beginning of all life. And the breaking of it allude to the coming forth of being from within it. The actual fragility of the eggshell speaks of the fragility of life.

Taking inspiration from these themes, I painted on the eggshells using a combination of Alcohol inks and acrylic paints. I also incorporated the use of calligraphy, and words within the Arabic language with resonated with what I tried to communicate with through the art on the eggshells.

I made a variety of marks, and explored different colour palettes to experiment with the substrate, and mediums, the pulling in the individual fragments into compositions to tell a story.

I also incorporated the use of gold leaf, to tie in the principles of kintsugi, and highlighting fractures. This resulted in a collection of five works on wood panel which the eggshells arranged in various compositions.

As a culmination of this experiment, I used commonplace objects to bring together an irregular sculpture, embellished with fragments of eggshell pieces. I titled this piece: “Upright holding a cup half full”

The meaning behind it includes thoughts about remaining steadfast, positivity, and approaching your situation with the mentality of “A glass half full” instead of “glass half empty”.

In terms of sculpture, I wanted to include an interactive installation which illustrated the moon phases, and so as a craft element to the project, I used 7 spherical foam balls, and covered them in gold leaf and eggshells to symbolise how a human’s life journey, is so similar to the turning of the moon. How each day has a different amount of light and dark within it, and how eventually the cycle completes into a fully illuminated moon.

The final elements of my response include a series of mixed-media paintings. These were whittled down to 4 Artworks focused upon the duality of light and dark, sun and moon, night and day. They each include calligraphy of Surah Duha and a contrasting colour palette to symbolise the opposite forces.