The Art Of Mohammad Khayata.

middle east revised

/Walking on Thread, photo via Mohammad Khayata website/

I was first introduced to Mohammad Khayata’s work while I was strolling down the streets of Beirut last November. On of his works (Walking on Thread) was exhibited in a gallery I passed by and it caught my eye immediately. I told myself I should remember his name and investigate more about his art when I come back home.

Khayata is a painter and a photographer, born in Damascus in 1985. His first solo exhibition was organized in Lebanon, three years ago.

Khayata’s work is beautiful – it’s sensitive, powerful, thoughtful. In Bits and Pieces, he portrays symbols of what went on in Syria, combining stories and memories like a patched work stitched and tied to a canvas.

The images capture real life grief – from the portrait of a man wrapped in a patched quilt made of memories to…

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Dead Cities, Syria.

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Maciej Moskwa is a Polish photographer, a member of TESTIGO documentary collective. He spent a lot of time working in Syria, and I was first introduced to his work through his photo essay Dead Cities.

Artist statement:

” ‘Dead Cities’ are the remains of Roman and Byzantine settlements in the north-western Syria. In 2012, during the civil war in Syria, more than one million people had to abandon their homes and sought safe shelter. They came to the places where the Ancients buried their dead. In places such as Shansharah, Robia, Serjilla the living cohabitate with the dead in ruins and tombs, often underground. They are exposed to the elements, cold, wet hungry and vulnerable to disease. Many, fleeing from their homes, could not take much with them, the heaviest luggage they carry is their memories filled with the images, sounds and smells of an ongoing war. Although they…

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Exploring Ruzbihan’s palette: Ultramarine

Chester Beatty Conservation

This is the first of a number of posts which will explore the palette of the Ruzbihan Qur’an, the spectacular 16^th century Persian manuscript currently at the centre of our exhibition Lapis and Gold: The story of the Ruzbihan Qur’an.

In late 2013 and early 2014, two rounds of non-invasive scientific analysis helped to identify the pigments used by calligrapher Ruzbihan Muhammad al-Tab‘i al-Shirazi and his team of artists. The pigment analysis was part of a larger research project to increase our knowledge of mid-16^th century Shirazi artists’ materials and techniques, contributing to a fuller understanding of the working methodologies of Islamic book artists at this time.

Examining folios from the Ruzbihan Qur’an (CBL Is 1558) with scientists from MOLAB® (left) and curator Dr Elaine Wright (right) in the conservation lab.

The European Commission funded MOLAB® Transnational Access Service, sponsored two teams of dedicated scientists, who…

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