Contain Me

---

The Scribe

Geometric Grid and Calligraphy used in Contain Me

Contain Me 
I named this body of work after one piece in it. It has been a dream of mine to make this work. It illustrates prominent female Islamic leaders.
They are wives of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH.) They are called The Mothers of Believers and are highly revered.
In the Islamic faith, "The Mothers of The Believers" were twelve remarkable women chosen to lead the nation. While Prophet Mohammed surrounded himself with his male disciples, he shared a more intimate connection with a select group of women—his wives.
I have completed two installations that pay tributes to two exceptional women who left permanent marks on the world: Khadijah and Hafsah. But they still need to be adequately credited for their roles.
Muhammad's first wife, Khadijah, believed in him and pledged her unwavering support. She played a pivotal role in Islam's triumph and endurance. She dedicated her life, power, and money to supporting the nascent religion, and Mohammed is forever indebted to her. When her husband was shaken by his first experience with Gabriel's appearance in Hira's cave, she not only provided refuge to him, but she also reassured him that he was not hallucinating. Knowing him, she confirmed to him that what he saw was real. She took him to her Christian cousin, who agreed with her and said that Mohammed was the good news for the people of Arabia. I called this work "Contain Me" because the Prophet asks that of Khadijah, saying, "Cover me, tuck me up." This was a pivotal moment in Arab history. It is the moment of an equal collaboration of a man and a woman in the birth of Islam.

After Khadijah's death, Mohammed took many wives; one of them was Hafsah bint, Omer. She undertook the monumental responsibility of preserving the Qur'an until early khalifs could transcribe it. This contribution establishes her as a crucial figure in disseminating Islamic teachings. She was brilliant and could read and write at a time when most people were illiterate. It makes sense that she was the one who took charge of keeping the holy text of Islam. She was known to argue about interpreting the Qur'an even with her husband. The installation "The Scribe" is an homage to Hafsa since there is a possibility that she scribed sheets of the Qur'an.

Another woman I am intending to highlight is Ayishah, Mohammed's third and youngest wife. Full of zest and wisdom, she narrated more than two thousands Hadiths which are Mohammed's sayings that provide major teachings for Muslims second to the Qur'an. No wonder Mohammed said: "Learn half of your religion from this redhead" as she was known to have red hair. A widow at 18, Ayishah became a major political leader in early Islamic drama that ended with dividing Muslims into Sunni and Shiat.

Scholars have long recognized the pivotal role these women played in shaping the Islam we know today, and contemporary researchers are increasingly realizing that their influence may be even more profound than previously acknowledged.
In my work, I usually juxtapose portraits against a backdrop of Islamic and Arabic patterns. In this body of work, I have a new approach to portraiture. Instead of incorporating it into the canvas imagery, I had it stand out in front of it. I also made these portraits in larger-than-life sizes to emphasize these women's status.
I have been experimenting with octagonal designs since it is a common vocabulary in Islamic geometric art. I used it here to symbolize holiness instead of the fire halos that Islamic art used around images of the Prophet and holy people.
I created large cutout paintings on wood. Then, I screen-printed canvas sheets with a pattern of these portraits' outlines after incorporating them in an Islamic motif.Viewers might not recognize the silhouettes used, but to me, they symbolize the integration of women in history and affirm our role as equal participants in culture-making.

I seek to make images of ancient females whose faces were never seen after their time. No portrait was ever allowed to speak for them. This work is trying to map out some dimensions of their physical existence so that we recognize them as the whole and extraordinary human beings they were.