Thinking Through “Infinities” and the Possibilities of Art Making

Infinities examines the work of contemporary Canadian artists whose work is informed by the traditions and practices of Islamic art and visual culture. Whether it is Persian miniature painting or the oral storytelling traditions from the Horn of Africa, Canadian artist are increasingly taking up uniquely diaspora practices that push the limits of meaning of Islamic art today.

In her 2017 essay on Sufi Muslim scholar Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī, writer Rozina Ali discusses how the thirteenth-century poet’s work has been significantly stripped of its religious nature, namely the influence of Islam. She notes that at the time of the early translation of Rumi’s work during the nineteenth century, “translators and theologians of the time could not reconcile their ideas about a ‘desert religion,’ with its unusual moral and legal codes, and the work of poets like Rūmī.”¹

The transformation of Rūmī provides a clear example of how the very mention of Islam has been erased from contemporary discourse, resulting in a disconnect between the principles of religion and the cultural practices of Muslims. While a contemporary version of Rumi has a wide readership, particularly in North America, the context and history of his work remains far less understood. This limited engagement often leaves out the relationship that Muslims today may have with Rūmī’s poetry and its correlation to their spirituality. The story of Rūmī’s translation also provides insights on how piecemeal knowledge is on Muslim societies and cultures outside of Muslim-majorities. In other words, while there’s knowledge on poets, customs, and even major holidays and practices, there continues to be apathy or limited awareness on how such practices and modes of knowledge have impacted non-Muslim societies historically. 

Infinities brings together a number of artists and writers proximate to Islamic cosmology who broadly engage with the materials, concepts, and motifs commonly associated with Islamic art. For example, commissioned artist Shaheer Zazai draws from Afghan carpet patterns and jacquard weaving techniques to produce hyper-detailed digital art in Microsoft Word. The work of Farheen HaQ and Habiba El-Sayed is grounded in history but also owes a great deal to performance art and the enactment of intimate gestures. Artists such as Tazeen Qayyum and Azadeh Elmizadeh look to miniature painting traditions for the foundations of their painting practices, whereas researcher Moksa Rokay discusses the context of Muslim archives in Canada. Works by Rolla Tahir and Faisa Omer explore digital possibilities that intertwine identity and place, and Alize Zorlutuna and Abdi Osman expand upon Queer aesthetics in their respective works. Cover artist Samar Hejazi brings our attention to the textile heritage of Palestine, which continues to have political relevance to current global events. Established artist Jamelie Hassan provides valuable insights from her long career engaging with the histories of Muslim cultures. 

This is not an easy engagement: as a field of study that emerged during the nineteenth century, the formation of Islamic art has long compressed a broad and heterogeneous history. While this formation has been significantly challenged—namely with the publication of Edward Said’s foundational book Orientalism (1978)—the production of knowledge on Islam and Muslims largely remains an academic pursuit, overlooking adherents of the faith or those whose heritage is connected to Islamic visual culture. Moreover, this issue is less concerned with defining what constitutes Islamic art, but more focused on the ideas and processes artists have engaged with to create their own work.²

Interwoven in all of this knowledge is the legacy of colonialism and anti-Black racism, which continues to marginalize the voices and experiences of Black and African Muslims. This history has served as the basis for understanding how the world is ordered and knowledge is produced. These are narratives that have lasting implications on not only the lives of whole groups of people, but their material conditions as well. All the artists featured in this issue are based in Canada, a country founded on settler colonialism. These artists have been sensitive to the power imbalances that have shaped not only the country, but also the overall production of knowledge. Grassroots Indigenous organizations such as Idle No More, the Giniw Collective, and Honour the Earth have emphasized the injustice of land dispossession, and in the past year and a half, the fissure of this imbalance has been further highlighted by the untimely murder of George Floyd and the work of Black Lives Matter. These movements have changed the conversations that museums and art galleries have had on representation and collections. They have also had a deep impact on artists of colour and have placed Muslims at the complex intersections of these evolving conversations.

This special issue of BlackFlash Magazine provides a glimpse into how some of these old narratives are changing. Museums and galleries are slowly coming to contextualize these diverse histories. Many artists have long spearheaded exhibitions that engage various aspects of Muslim visual cultures in Canada, the opening of the Aga Khan Museum as one example, which has showcased the heterogeneity of Islamic cultures more globally since 2010.³ These are small steps which have more fully shown the diverse ties Muslim communities have in Canada. 

I want to extend my warmest thanks to all of the contributors of this issue. Without their insights and art, this issue would not be possible. Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts through the Concept to Realization stream for funding this special issue. Many thanks also go to the board, staff, and volunteers of BlackFlash Magazine, especially Managing Editor Maxine Proctor for supporting this project. The support, and conversations of all who have participated in the production of this issue, have been generative and exciting for me, and for that I am truly appreciative.

Finally, my intention in guest editing this issue of BlackFlash is to showcase the infinite artistic possibilities of artists who understand the political implications of working with the traditions of Islamic art. All of the contributions in this issue have shown the multiple ways contemporary artists have re-imagined and engaged living traditions. Infinities presents the possibilities of using Islamic art as the basis of one’s practice, bringing forth interpretations that show the limitlessness of the visual cultures. This will no doubt continue to influence the practices of artists in Canada and, one hopes, unsettle the ideas that have historically shaped the field to date.

—Nadia Kurd, Guest Editor

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Feature Image: Samar Hejazi, Little Blue-six, 2021. Tatreez (Palestinian embroidery) from The Intricacies of Wholeness series, 20 x 10 cm. Photo by Jessica Thalmann.

1. Rozina Ali, “The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi,” The New Yorker, January 5, 2017, accessed September 4, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-erasure-of-islam-from-the-poetry-of-rumi.
2. There are a number of noteworthy thinkers to consider here: Shahab Ahmed, Nasser Rabbat, Wendy Shaw and Oleg Grabar to name a few.
3. In addition to the Aga Khan Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Montreal Museum of FIne Arts also have significant collections of Islamic art. In my own curatorial work, for example, I have sought to engage these questions, and in 2006 I curated an exhibition called Muqarnas: Intersections of Islamic Architecture at the Niagara Artists Centre in St. Catherines, which featured the work of architect Sharif Senbel and painter Lubna Agha.

This article is published in issue 38.3 of BlackFlash magazine. Get this issue