KARACHI: Spirituality is basically one’s profound connection with the divine. Artists over the various phases in history have expressed their association with the Almighty by adopting a variety of methods and techniques. In our part of the world, in that context, calligraphy has been one of the most effective mediums.

An exhibition of Jamil Siddiqui’s artworks titled Iqra in which he’s made relief sculptures of some of the Almighty’s names is a worthy example of showing how art can be a veritable source of expressing one’s spiritual self.

To expand on the subject let’s take a look at what the artist has to say about the exhibits he has put on display. “I have crafted mostly Allah’s name in Islamic calligraphy format using high relief sculptures of fibreglass as my medium with antique rusty copper effect.”

His devotion to the names is evident from the hard work and passion that he has put into making the artworks. And he has done that employing quite a few media.

Jamil begins with ink-on-paper pieces. There are seven exhibits done in that medium and they are great to draw inspiration from. The copper and brass in fibreglass pieces change the form but the content and the artist’s devotion to it keeps increasing.

The letters that he draws in exhibits such as ‘Al-Wakeel’ have a sense of movement to them that signifies the spiritual growth that the artist must’ve felt during the process. They make the viewer look at them with such undivided concentration that the effort that has gone into putting them up takes a back seat and the artist’s love for the divine takes centre stage.

Jamil is a graduate of the Karachi School of Art and has been living in the UK since 1990. The exhibition, under way at the Art Chowk gallery, will conclude on June 1.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2019