Islamic Art Exhibition now on display at Jordan's National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman, where seventeen artists from 13 countries were asked to interpret three of the holiest mosques in Islam -- Mecca's Haram Mosque, Medina's the Prophet’s Mosque, and Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque. Amman, Jordan. 31/12/2009.
Seventeen artists from 13 countries were asked to interpret three of the holiest mosques in Islam -- Mecca's Haram Mosque, Medina's the Prophet’s Mosque, and Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque -- for the art exhibit, "The Ultimate Journey," now on display at Jordan's National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman.
The exhibit includes art from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Video documentaries are shown via laptops and feature the artists explaining themselves and these specific works.
In one, artist Mohammed al-Shammery, an Iraqi artist living in Amman who sometimes incorporates unexpected elements such as shipping codes into his paintings, talks about his lack of formal art education that left him "scared to paint," a fear he only overcame later in life.
Some of the works are traditional renditions of the three mosques, while others such as Egypt's Ahmed Moustafa offer interpretive reflections. In Mustafa's "Mohammed's Night Journey," instead of an image of a mosque, the theme is visualized via soaring, colorful calligraphy.
The exhibit was organized by Jordan's Royal Society of Fine Arts, working with Saudi Arabia's Layan Cultural Foundation.
