Year: 2019

Materials: wood, steel, coal, lacquer
Dimensions: length of 5 meters, height of two meters, width of 1.2 meters

This sculptural installation was commissioned by the Sharjah Islamic Art Festival 2019 and will be exhibited in Sharjah Art Museum in December 2019 - January 2020.

 From far away the sculpture appears to form a large, suspended ellipsoid. Solid silver shape glimmers and sways gently with minor movements of air in the gallery. As view moves closer, they find that the silhouette consists of nineteen individual circles, or moons, arranged by volume, with the largest balanced in the middle and successively smaller circles towards the two ends of the object. Created with lunar phase in mind, the sculpture celebrates consistency, balance and light of this celestial body, a recurring motif in Islamic arts. 

Hollow circular incisions within each of the round moons speak directly to the “Prospect” theme of the Festival. Perfect circumference of each circle in juxtaposition to the hollow space within suggests change and potential. It is akin to the two ends of moon’s journey across the sky – from a faint sliver of silver light to a proud shimmering disk. The “Moon on the Celestial Equator” is a body in motion. Every circle stands for a journey full of hope and prospect. The constellation of nineteen moons forms a larger, tangible shape that represents the progression of time itself and the prospects that it brings. The element of chance is present in the way the surface of the sculpture captures and reflect light in soft glimmers, sharp sparks of glare, or through quiet metallic shimmer. 

This sculptural installation draws from the tradition of Islamic art, that is frequently characterized by the use of geometric patterns and repetition for intelligent storytelling through patterns. A smooth succession of silvery disks is an interpretation of the arabesque motif widely used in Islamic architecture, ceramics and carpets. The surface of each disk, covered with thin aluminum, displays lattice geometric pattern, a historically major feature of carpet design in 17th century Turkey and Persia.