Arabic calligraphy inspired by nasta’liq and thuluth scripts, passage from the Qur’an (Surah 20- Taha, Ayat 25).

Acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 24″

Excerpt from instagram post @ farha.najah.art on 2017-02-28 :

I started this calligraphy in spring (April 2017) after my dear Ammi (mom) made the request months prior. I was touched especially because it happened soon after, and in the context of ongoing, conversations about love and Queerness.  She once asked me with a sincere tone in Urdish, “what inspired you to be Queer/assert Queerness?” I paused and responded, “Part of it has to do with you ma, your love and teachings on love.”

I had thought I’d complete this painting within a month, but, I couldn’t rush my creative rhythms, and needed to learn more about patience. The painting process saw me through my own heart openings in various and profoundly meaningful ways.  I am grateful to my mom for passing on this beautiful teaching.

While sharing a meal with my parents this morning, I told my mom that I wanted to launch this painting as a celebration, and that I did not want to give space/associate it in any way to white supremacy, given that I had shared this passage in a speech last year on January 29th, after the brutal Québec City mosque shootings and massacre of Muslims of Colour by a white supremacist, and given that tomorrow marks a year since this brutality.  My piyaree si ammi acknowledged and affirmed what I was saying, and in her way, she also welcomed me to hold celebration and grief, resilience and rage, loss and love simultaneously. And so, I take this moment to center the lives of those who are impacted by systemic violence.  I choose to continue sending my love to the families who mourn their loved ones. I choose to focus on all the love – in the presence of justice, that we build within ourselves and between each other.

 

Above Left: picture of four hands (artist, nieces and mother on painting).

For more info: instagram @farha.najah.art