Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum showcasing the finalists in this award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic culture, history, society and ideas. This year’s edition was devoted to moving images and digital media. I thought this limited the scope of the award and made the display a bit samey consisting mainly of videos. My favourite was the winner Khandakar Ohida's video “Dream Your Museum” about their uncle, Khandakar Selim, and his collection of more than 12,000 objects amassed over the past 50 years. The video was shown in an installation with some of the objects. It makes you look at the objects around you at home. I liked Marrim Akashi Sani’s bright photos of her Detroit community during the Islamic holy month of Muharram capturing domestic interiors. I found Sadik Kwaish Alfraji’s layered animations about her parents moving shown with drawings of her mother’s hand based on   family photographs. Closed 16 March 2025 Review ...

Interesting symposium organised by the Sam Fogg Gallery and held at the Royal Institution on the artistic links between the Islamic world and Europe. The symposium compliments an exhibition currently in their gallery and brought together some excellent speakers on the topic. Federica Gigante, from the Khalili Research Centre at the University of Oxford talked about how slaves from the wars with the Ottoman Empire, who were used to row pirate galleys by the Italians, were allowed to manufacture and sell goods in the 'off' season in the Renaissance period. Operating in Western Italy their presence partly explains the more ordinary Ottoman goods in Italy which would not have come via trade routes. I know a lot about this period but had never come across and found it rather mind blowing! Susana Calvo Capilla , a professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, discussed the political implications of the term Mudejar style in 19th century Spain and now.   I have to admit t...

Colourful pavilion at the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the holy month of Ramadan. This is the first Ramadan Pavilion at the gallery and is designed by Shahed Saleem to evoke an abstracted mosque. It is based on prints and drawings in the gallery’s collection and has been used for events and two open Iftars as part of the annual Ramadan Festival curated by Ramadan Tent Project. I loved the way it had simplified elements of a mosque and was open on all sides. It was a shame you couldn’t go in it when I was there but that might have been due to the rain or to stop children using it as a climbing frame. In its bright colours it was a great use of the porcelain floored new entrance square. Closed 1 May 2023

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum for this triennial award for contemporary art inspired by the Islamic tradition. I have been to previous shows for this prize and they always throw up new ideas. This time the show included the work of eight artists and designers. The winner, Ajlan Gharem, had a mosque made to chicken wire, the material used for border fences and refugee detention centres. so that the interior was visible. There was a section of it in the show and a video of it in use in a desert. The idea was to demystify Islamic prayer for non-Muslims. Fashion designer, Kollol Datta, draws on the traditional clothing from around the world to make connections between communities and looks at how dress has been used to control women. Also on the theme of clothing, Bushra Waqas Khan, makes miniature dresses, like the one shown here, made of affidavit paper used for official document which often carry national motifs. The nod to Victorian fashion hints at co...

Interesting online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at how the architecture of Syria and Islam have influenced Western architecture. Diane Darke talked to us about her book “Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe” taking us through the influence of early Christian architecture in the Dead Cities of Syrian, that of the Umayyad Caliphate and from the Islamic expansion into Spain. She looked at how the ideas spread via pilgrims, crusaders and merchants. In particular she introduced the premise that the Gothic style has strong Islamic influences and traced a line from the first pointed arches in Egypt through various monasteries along the pilgrim routes. She also talked about the high regard in which Sir Christopher Wren held Saracen architecture basing the Dome of St Paul’s on their principles of vaulting.

Beautiful new gallery at the British Museum telling the story of Islamic art. The gallery consists of two large rooms both beautifully designed with cases round the edge and in the centre and had a dark modern look within a classical room. I loved window screens by Ahmad Angawi based on designs from Mecca, Jeddah and Morocco. The cases have very clear glass which made the objects feel like they were in your space. The displays highlighted the diversity of the people and traditions of the Islamic faith arranging them by country and chronology. There was a nice use of contemporary work to highlight some of the themes and a lovely mix of clothes, books, puppets, domestic objects and interior decoration. I look forward to going back and looking at the objects in more detail. Reviews Times Telegraph Evening Standard

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum for a biennial prize for contemporary design inspired by Islamic tradition.   The show focused on the eight finalists covering fashion design, painting, architecture and more. I liked Naqsh Collective’s work drawing on the embroidery of shawl’s in Jordon and laser cutting the patterns into wood with brass inlay. My favourite was the painter Hayv Kahraman who is shown here. She studied in Florence and combines this practice with ideas from 13th century Mughal manuscripts to highlight the life of modern women.   Closes on 25 November 2018