issue 8 june

THE PLACE TO BEChangsha MexihuInternational Cultural & Art Centre, Hunan Province, ChinaIraqi born, British architect, Zaha Hadid, was nominatedbusinesswoman of the year in April. Her architecturalfirm currently employs 300 people, twice that of the worldrenowned British architect Richard Rogers.Hadid’s architectural style, highly influenced by RussianSuprematism, has won many awards for its originality of form.The International Cultural and Art Centre in China incorporatesa museum, theatre and several art galleries.HERITAGEMosque Lamp, 12 th century: Syria, RaqqaEarthenware with turquoise glazeHeight 17cmMIXED MEDIAThis beautiful lamp was made in the early Islamic art industryof Raqqa Syria. Comprising a conical base, spherical body andfunnelled opening, this version was created using stone pasteclay. Later designs were created in glass the 13 th century.Golnaz Fathi is an Iranian painter and calligrapher. Afterstudying graphic design at Azad University in Tehran, Fathiwent on to study calligraphy for a further six years and is oneof a few women who have trained to such a high standard inthis field. She made the conscious decision not to continuewith traditional calligraphy but to develop her own style of artrepresented by the use of abstract materials. Often workingwith mixed media, Fathi’s main body of work is on canvas.Although her work is still based on traditional calligraphicprinciples, she has boldly infused her own imaginative ideasand created a visual language that is culturally and artisticallyattractive to all walks of life. Her work is regarded as transcultural;eastern motifs merge with western expressionism.Through the fusion of these styles, Fathi salutes tradition andmodernity.Using solely primary colours in her work with the addition ofblack and white, she creates pieces that are striking and beautiful.Colours stand independent of each other, never mixedor blended, simply complementing the space they mutuallyinhabit. Instructively and instinctively her use of coloursconveys emotion and mood. These basic colours [green wasadded in 2005] support her words which are not simply joinedletters that herald traditional themes such as sacred text orpoetry. These are utterances whose vitality is not traditionalbut postmodern in their origins, expressions of the heart, fromnotable writers and villagers alike. She uses the theme ofpoetry in her paintings, but says it is not about the words, thewords themselves being meaningless in their own right. Notbecause they do not convey meaning, but simply because it isthe transformative effect that they have on the reader whichis what truly matters. She believes that the personal reactionexperienced by each individual gives her works kudos. For thisreason, she does not title her works, nor label them ‘untitled’,but leaves them ambiguously bare of titles so the viewer canidentify with them as they choose. •Moriam Grillo is a visualartist, broadcaster, authorand part time art teacher.She holds Bachelor degreesin Photography & Film andCeramics. Her current workinvolves two public Islamiccommissions.2021