The theme of this art piece is a shared purpose, representing how beings other than humans worship Allah. Amidst the COVID-19 lockdowns, few to no people were performing tawaf; however, birds were seen circling around the Kaaba, as if they were filling the absence of people. The doves in the piece symbolize messengers and the soul; the Kaaba signifies the Oneness of Allah; the arches represent unity; the minarets represent the call to recognize one’s interconnection with those of a shared purpose.
I marbled the background with Ebru techniques, photo transferred Masjid al-Haram and painted the Kaaba, arches and birds with acrylic. Ebru allowed me to capture floating paint on water representing the continuity of Islamic beliefs throughout the universe. The blues, whites and blacks in the marbling represent a night sky, which is the time Muslims devote to worship Allah. The photo transfer looks like an old photograph, capturing the historic time when the Kaaba was closed.
I faced tremendous difficulty with Ebru marbling, as it was difficult to achieve the right water consistency that was not too thick nor too thin. I played around with the ratio between carrageenan and water, the temperature of the water and the amount of time the mixture was left in the fridge to settle. Once I got a nice water consistency, I had trouble printing onto surfaces as the paint was too thick or thin, or the surface absorbed or repelled the paint too much. Thankfully, after several days of continuous attempts, I got a print I was satisfied with and successfully transferred a clear image onto the wood.
Here are (some) experimentation:
