I will be exhibiting four photographs from my book Diwan Al Noor. The photo’s are : of the Jeddah Islamic port at night with ships parked at the quay, at the Jeddah Islamic port at night, a single ship and an empty chair and the full moon above them.
The reason the Port is called the Islamic port because it is the only port in Saudi Arabia which receives the Pilgrims that come by boat to do the annual pilgrimage at Mekkah of the “Hajj”. The third photo is of a scene at an old mosque in the City of Cairo with light coming in from the portal above the mosques gate. The last photo is also of a mosque in old Cairo and it is a scene of the dome from inside and the light gushing in from a small window above from the dome.
I work in all my photographs with the Idea that light is one of the best manifestations of Divine Beauty which we can detect in all nations and with all elements be it nature of human beings or even what humans build and that is why i want to show this kind of Divine manifestation through something as modern as a port and as old and sacred as a mosque. God has no limits and no borders.
For me photography is one of the purist mediums of sacred artistic expression for the simple reason that depends on light - it is writing with light - and also because it is an art which observe and can allow the artist no inpute from him/herself’s ego therefore it allow the Manifestation of the divine to express itself fully if the artist does respect this discipline.
My art is just the next step on the long road of mystical art which depends as much on the artists self discipline as it does on the tool of expression itself. Therefore, I feel as close to artist of the 6 or 15 or 18 centuries as I’m to those of this century.
Diwan Al Noor, 2002. b&w photography. 30 × 40 cm. Courtesy of the artist
