Polishing The Mirror: The Artistic Journey of Dana Awartani | Paul Marchant
Essay 2018Contributing essay written by Professor Paul Marchant for the Artist’s solo show The Silence Between Us at Maraya Art Centre.
Dana Awartani’s outlook as an artist can be said to bring together the rigor and analysis of the intellect. She draws from ancient streams of classical philosophy and Islamic geometry through to the present, bridging international, traditional and contemporary perspectives of art, culture and spirituality. This cultivation of the heart-hand-mind, based on inner conviction, is an outwardly directed practice intended not to be removed from life, but to engage more deeply with it.
Awartani’s work is broad-ranging, multidimensional, and layered with symbolic meaning, building towards order and beauty in a world which often appears chaotic. This essay endeavours to outline some of the histories and techniques she employs in pursuit of this order and to provide insight into the systems which she continuously weaves together as she builds pieces.
The importance of Dana’s approach to her practice, regardless of the medium, is the relationship between highly refined systematic analysis, technical methodology, contemplation and deep empathy with her subjects. It enables her to discover the interrelatedness of all parts to accomplish whole compositions, whilst appreciating all the thresholds of their process of development. To achieve the discipline of both illumination and dimensional geometry that form the basis of her work, she studied with masters in Turkey and the UK, working towards obtaining the Ijaza in Istanbul (the highest award needed to practice and teach Islamic illumination) and at her Masters in traditional arts the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts with strong emphasis on geometry. This journey has provided her with not only an understanding of high level technical skills, but also of social organisation, cultural histories, philosophy, and spirituality. Her avowed aim is to revitalise traditional Islamic art forms through continual ritual acts of revival, renewal and performances of contemporaneity.
She carries this out as a true adept of authentic spontaneous expression, facilitating a way to view the world from a fresh perspective. The quality of spontaneity, in this case, is not about the unfettered expression of desires, but instead is a kind of trained spontaneous instinct that flows out of painstaking daily effort and repetition of learned, complex, disciplined skills. This spontaneous intuition makes further dimensions visible as she seeks to activate these traditional artistic processes and research as contemporary expressions.
The processes of geometric analysis and pattern construction are themselves a ritual using the two-legged compass and straight ruler. The word compass has the root compassus in Latin, which means ‘to step’ and is closely related to the word compassion. In a sense, the ritual act of making geometry is taking action towards contemplation of the compassionate reflection of Unity. The central message of the Holy Qur’an is the concept of Unity, al-Tawhid, and the awareness that there is no God but God. The aya (also meaning signs, symbols or similitudes) often refer to aspects of the natural world. Great importance is placed on their interpretation, as they are thought to be evidence of the power of God’s creation. They also remind man of his vital role as custodian of nature and vice-regent (khalifa) of God on earth. Again, according to the Holy Qur’an, the creation is connected to the properties of measure, symmetry and proportion: ‘Him Who created thee. Fashioned thee in due proportion, and gave thee a, just bias’, Qur’an 82.7.
In the process of obtaining the higher attributes of both the art of illumination and geometric composition, greater emphasis is placed on the understanding of proportional rectangles, shapes and figures related to the circle (the shape regarded by all traditions as the symbol of wholeness and perfection). When practising the continual renewal of traditional geometry, it is possible to experience a sense of one-ness through drawing geometric figures and harmonious patterns. As well as experiencing the interrelatedness of all phenomena in nature, one can begin to discern pattern and order in relation to cosmic rhythms that connect man to the universe.
Through daily effort and determined discipline, the deepening of one’s vision enables a pathway to experience a flow of creativity, that in turn, activates the spontaneity discussed earlier that makes a broader range of dimensions visible and the exploration of designs in the contemporary moment that reflect the depth of spiritual truths.
In the Islamic context the genius of pattern-making, art and craft by highly skilled artists is understood as the reflection of Divine Unity based on the laws underlying the universe. To the Muslim artist the Holy Qur’an affirms the power and mystery of God’s Creation and its connection to the properties of measure, symmetry and proportion: ‘Lo! We have created everything by measure’, Qur’an, 54.49.
In the desert that surrounded the Prophet Muhammad and his followers, the early Muslims made use of their enduring spirit for overcoming adversity in the harshest of natural environments to succeed in developing a unique sensitivity to nature. The ancient traditional science of navigation across the desert (developed from the time of the Ancient Egyptians) arose from observations of planets and constellations moving across the night sky. It was inspired by the wonder and awe of the vast heavenly firmament. The people of the desert also had a profound appreciation for the sparse crystalline structures of the sandy wilderness and open spaces, counterpoised by the fertility and variety of bio-life forms within the intimacy of the watery oasis. In Islamic art the two poles of crystalline and flowing forms are visualised as geometry and biomorphic design. They allude to the timeless quality of archetypes which have the potential to be renewed both in the present and future. In the words of S.H. Nasr “There is nothing more timely than the timeless.”
In his forward to Geometric Concepts of Islamic Art by Issam El-Said and Ayse Parman, Titus Burckhardt again identifies the circle as the source of all shapes and figures that are combined to make geometric patterns & designs and the underlying schema of flowing motifs:
‘Now the geometric models used in traditional art have nothing to do with the rational, or even rationalistic, systematisation of art; they derive from a geometry which is a priori non-quantitative and which itself is creative because it is linked to data inhering in the mind. At the basis of this geometry is the circle which is an image of the infinite whole and which, when evenly divided, gives rise to regularly shaped polygons which can, in their turn, be developed into star-shaped polygons elaborated indefinitely in perfectly harmonious proportions…’
Dana Awartani’s geometric studies, the basis of all of her work, start and conclude with the circle, the primary symbolic shape. The circle can form the basis of any geometric shape and also with its repetition produce the pure linear symbolism of a plant motif in the formation of biomorphic designs. The Pythagorean sources corresponding to the genesis of Islamic pattern begins with the single circle – its centre, radius and circumference. A second circle of the same size can tangent the first, with both centres along a straight line. A third can be drawn with its centre on the point of contact between the first two. A fourth circle with a radius equal to the diameter of the other circles can be drawn with the same centre as the third circle to exactly meet the outer edges of the first two circles. This gives three diagrammatic possibilities: (a) the larger circle – Unity; (b) the larger circle containing two smaller circles touching – Duality; and (c) the larger circle containing all three smaller circles – Harmony (this drawing also depicts geometric construction details). What we have seen in this example of the Pythagorean paradigm based on the universal principles of pure Number and Form, is the emergence of Duality out of Unity, and the subsequent unification of duality, which in turn results in a dynamic, differentiated image of the One in three parts (see diagrams below)
This universal pattern underlies the Pythagorean view of the kosmos, literally ‘world order,’ a term that Pythagoras is credited with first applying to the universe. The word kosmos, in addition to its primary meaning (order), also means ornament and pertains to the universe being beautifully ordered. This can be said to have relation to art forms expressing the reflection of Unity in multiplicity or multiplicity in Unity.
These key fundamentals for the physical and philosophical base for all of Awartani’s practice but each series builds on, complicates, and enrichens the conversation and expression of these techniques, continuing centuries-old dialogues and blending them with the contemporary moment.
The Islamic Caliphates series demonstrate Awartani’s ability to undertake rigorous training to build the strength of her technical practice and through in depth exploration of the history of Islamic empires to give traditional Islamic illumination a platform in today’s world.
In this work, Awartani extends the range of her progressional drawings to achieve illuminations with a succession of elements demonstrating the contribution of each great civilization in the development of this art. It depicts the geographic and historical expansion of the religion; beginning at the centre with the birth of the religion in the Hejaz, signified by a gold circle, all the way to its apotheosis, spanning from the Far East to Europe, integrated in the completed ‘Shamsa’.
The progressional drawings in Awartani’s practice at large are foundational, show the progression and developmental growth of patterns as a key aspect in her approach to understanding the ‘synergy’ of pattern design. Synergy is defined as a ‘whole system’ unpredicted by any part or subset of parts. Her drawings originate with the circle and conclude in a circle as a compositional format, they work towards the completion of complex designs using her substantive knowledge of the vocabulary of symmetries and proportional systems. Although she can use the step by step approach of a series of drawings instructing the construction of a design, her drawings can also maintain a field of variations on a theme within different areas of the same composition. This indicates both the pathway towards understanding the complete system and also the insight to develop artistic expressions reflecting Divine Unity underlying the inexhaustible variety of the world of patterns.
In the Islamic Caliphates works, this process is complicated through research, incorporating six distinct styles that correlate with the expansive periods of the Islamic empires. Their presentation together become as a way to express essential universality translated through highly diverse elements that both make up the art of illumination and are a reflection of Islamic civilization as a whole. This again focuses on the concept of Unity, al-Tawhid, which can be interpreted as unity within multiplicity or multiplicity within unity, the core principle of Islam.
The Platonic Solid Duals Series: connects the technique of progressional drawings to the three-dimensional sculptures of the Platonic solids that were originally exhibited in the Marrakech Biennale in 2016.
Dana Awartani’s initial drawings investigate and explore the increasing complexity of designs within equilateral triangle and pentagonal formats inscribed within the circle. They also focus on the growth of pattern elements and their integration within the whole composition. The drawings develop in a sequential unfolding of pattern language, including five stages from circle to polygon, star, sub-grid and finally pattern. The drawings are rigorously analytical but also result in a kind of visual poetry with the variation of weight and quality of line. Some passages of the drawings remain at earlier stages of analysis; some are almost complete, demonstrating a thorough knowledge of symmetry, proportion, scale, harmony and counterpoint. The designs were made to cover the surfaces of the faces of the Platonic figures suspended within their larger ‘transparent’ duals, to complete each of the series of sculptures. The original three sculptures include: Dodecahedron within an Icosahedron, Octahedron within a Hexahedron (Cube) and Icosahedron within a Dodecahedron. These comprise four of the five Platonic solids, the Tetrahedron being omitted. In this exhibition, however all five of the forms are present for the first time.
Plato’s dialogue Timaeus, attributes the qualities of the elements in cosmogonic context as Tetrahedron (Fire), Octahedron (Air), Hexahedron also Cube (Earth), Icosahedron (Water) and Dodecagon (Heaven). Dana Awartani chose to use the material of wood for the internal solids, a substance that exemplifies the requirement of the first four elements to support life and that can also be symbolised as the ‘Tree of Life’.
In the Abjad Hawaz series, exhibited along with the installation All (heavenly bodies) swim along, each in its orbit in the Yinchuan Biennale 2016; Dana Awartani returns to the theme that all things come from One and return to it, with significant interpretation of the tradition of Abjad. These are again exhibited together in this project at the Sharjah Art Museum, as part of the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival’s larger exhibition.
Dana Awartani’s Abjad Hawaz series develops visual codes for the numbers connected to letters of the Arabic alphabet translated as illuminated geometric patterns and pattern groupings. They are at the same time inspired by the interest in the multi-layered symbolism of Sufi poetry, expressing the Sufi quest which reflects the return to Unity through the five states of being or ‘presences’ which are: the world of Divine Essence or ‘Ipseity’ (Hahut); the world of Divine Names and Qualities, or Universal Intellect, also identified as Pure Being (Lahut); the intelligible world, or world of angelic substances (Jabarut); the world of psychic and subtle manifestation(Malakut); and finally, the terrestrial domain, dominated by man (Nasut). Sometimes a sixth state of being is added – that of Universal Man (al-insan al-kamil).
The base of these works is Ilm-huruf, an ancient science that give the Arabic letters their numerical values to begin with. She builds upon the ancient numerical system, expansively divining an aesthetic language that revivifies the abjad and insists on its relevance. She is interested in the a co-dependency inherent in geometry where the form is the result of a numerical expression – without which geometry would not exist. Awartani abstracts and imparts pure meaning using this method to create a harmonious and formal expression of complex notions that are difficult to succinctly synthesise.
The Abjad Hawaz works are a pure study of this for each letter of the alphabet, six of which are present in this installation, and then All [heavenly bodies] swim along each in its orbit build on the same principles but complicate it, translating the drawing method into an installation. This piece is a study of one of the only palindromes in the Qur’an which gives the work its title and governs the formal execution.
Dana Awartani’s installation Love is my Law Love is my Faith, exhibited in the Kochi-Murzais Biennale in 2016, is inspired by eight love poems oby Sufi Muhyiddin Ibn ’Arabi, Considered by many to be the ‘greatest Master,’ he was a poet, philosopher and saint. He was inspired to write eight love poems after an inner experience while making tawaf (circumambulation around the Ka’aba seven times) and drinking the miraculous zamzam water during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The poems are described by the Ibn ’Arabi Society in the following way:
‘…the Tāj al-Rasā’il wa-Minhāj al-Wasā’il, The Crown of Epistles and the Path to Intercessions, in which Ibn ‘Arabi addresses eight love letters to the Ka’ba, contains all the variations that Arabic literature has to offer on the theme of love. This is an unusual love, for a being made of stone, but oh so sacred, situated in an intermediate world between the human and the divine. The following is only a first version, to make known a treatise, as rich as it is difficult, which must take its place beside the Tarjumān al-Ashwāq and the chapter on Love in the Futūhāt…’
The installation, Love is my Law Love is my Faith, is constructed as a succession of square borders receding in scale, the largest being at the front diminishing through to the smallest central square, seen within the depth of an overall suggestion of cubic space. The borders are each embroidered with intricate geometric roses and star patterns that give the effect of shimmering, sparkling light. The image form corresponds to the composition of a mandala (which is translated as ‘halo’ or ‘cluster of blessings’) – it is a contemplative image (also within the religious traditions of the sub-continent of India) which traditionally acts as a mirror allowing the viewer experience the reflection of ‘the spark of divine love’ within themselves, as an ‘in the moment’ experience of union with the rhythm of the universe. The viewer is not meant to immobilise himself at a point, enjoying the privilege of ‘present-ness’ and raise his eyes from this fixed point, he must raise himself toward each of the elements represented. Contemplation of the image becomes a mental itinerary, an inner accomplishment; the image performs the function of a mandala.
The installation is a multi-dimensional image that both resonates with unfathomably profound connection to the central spiritual truth of the Islamic faith, and also with the use of universal principles of geometric pattern. It draws together a common thread of dialogue between a range of cultures and spiritual traditions. The use of indigenous methods and materials linked to the past and present of Saudi tribal textiles, reflect on the conversation between the two, and results in finely embroidered borders that bring a profound significance to the particular cultural dimensions. The practical craft of the making process achieved at such a high level of refinement, is of itself an invocation towards the manifestation of an object for deep contemplation of divine Unity.
All credit must be given for the courage, conviction and contemporaneity of the performance of our artist Dana Awartani. Her beautiful and challenging works have established her as a highly capable international and intercultural practitioner. This is evinced by her geometric drawings, miniature painting, illumination, parquetry, ceramics, mosaics, stained glass, textiles, embroideries, sculptures and spatial installations. She communicates a strong determination to revive and renew traditional art relevant for today and is able to intercede between cultural and religious boundaries. Her aim appears to be the development of mutual respect and understanding, encouraging a better, more positive future for the world. She has dedicated herself to reaching the highest level of achievement in contemporary and traditional training during her formative education in the visual arts, in London and Istanbul. Dana produces work of rigour and discipline that is not only technically very accomplished, but through the daily ritual of sacred geometry and study of its philosophical and spiritual dimensions, is able to connect to the essential source and goes far beyond the ‘modern mentality’. It encourages us to regain our sense of true humanness and identity and that at the spiritual level, enables the recovery of both our symbolic sense and access to the Unity of Creation.
Works Consulted in approximate order of reference
Professor Michael Puett & Christine Gross-Loh, THE PATH, (Penguin 2016), ISBN: 978-0-241-97042-3. Titus Burckhardt, Sacred Art in East and West, (Perennial Books 1967), ISBN: 0-900588-11-X. Titus Burckhardt, ART OF ISLAM, Language and meaning, (WIFT 1973), and ISBN: 0-905035-00-3 M. Ali Lakhani, The Timeless Relevance of Traditional Wisdom, (World Wisdom 2010), ISBN: 978-1-935493-19-8. Issam El-Said, Geometric Concepts in Islamic Art, (WIFT 1976), ISBN: 0-905035-03-8 Kenneth Sylvian Guthrie, the Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, (Phanes Press 1987), ISBN: 0-933999-50-X. Yusuf Ali (Trans), The Holy Qur’an, Islamic Propagation Centre International Albert Einstein – quote, H Eves, Mathematical Circles Adieu (Boston 1977). Plato, Philebus, Timaeus and Phaedrus, (Loeb Classical Library 1917-1990), ISBN: 0-674-99040-4. The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, Arts & Crafts of the Islamic Lands, (Thames & Hudson 2013), ISBN: 978-0-500-51702-4. John Martineau, A Book of Coincidence, (Wooden Books 1995), ISBN 0-9525862-0-7. Nader Ardalan and Laleh Bakhtiar, the Sense of Unity, (University of Chicago Press 1973), ISBN0-226-02560-8. Professor Keith Critchlow, Islamic Patterns an Analytical and Cosmological Approach, (Thames and Hudson 1976), ISBN: 0-500-27071-6. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science & Civilization in Islam (Islamic Texts Society1987), ISBN: 0-946621-11-X. W.S. Andrews, Magic Squares & Cubes, (Dover 1960). Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An introduction the Cosmological Doctrines, (Thames & Hudson 1978), ISBN: 0-500-27216-6. Daisaku Ikeda & Majid Tehranian, GLOBAL CIVILZATION, A Buddhist – Islamic Dialogue, (British Academic Press 2003), ISBN: 0-946621-11-X. Maria Rosa Menocal, The Ornament of the World, (Back Bay Books 2002), ISBN: 978-0-316-56688-9. Titus Burckhardt, Mystical Astrology According to Ibn ’Arabi, (Beshara Press 1977), ISBN: 0-904975-09-6 René Guénon, The Great Triad, (Quinta Essentia 1991), ISBN: 1-870196-06-6 Titus Burckhardt, The Mirror of the Intellect,(Quinta Essentia 1987), ISBN: 0-946621-08-X René Guénon, Fundamental Symbols, The Universal Language of Sacred Science, (Quinta Essentia 1995), ISBN1: 1-870196-10-4.