MUQARNAS: Intersections of Contemporary Islamic Architecture
Lubna Agha, Star I with Scroll Cases I and II, 2005, acrylic on wood. Photo by Riaz Mehmood.
19 August - 30 September, 2006
In partnership with the Niagara Artists' Centre. 354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, ON
Curated by Nadia Kurd
Opening reception: Saturday, 19 August, 2006. 7pm
SAVAC International Lecture Series Presents: Sharif Senbel. Thursday 21 September, 2006
The mosque has many uses; it is a place for prayer, a community centre, and for learning. For the Muslim diaspora, the mosque plays a pivotal role in anchoring the community in new locations. For it is in these spaces that Muslims can practice and define the characteristics of Islam. The work done by artist Lubna Agha and architect Sharif Senbel examines the prevalent and most engaging aspects of Muslim life in North America , namely the various interpretations of how characteristics of Islamic Architecture are constructed in the diaspora. Their work shows how they are influenced by concepts of Islamic architecture while also providing a working base from which new understandings can surface
--Nadia Kurd, Converging Sites: Muslim Sacred Spaces and the Practice of Architecture
Lubna Agha is an artist from Pakistan who now works and lives in Brookline , Massachusetts , USA . Her works have been exhibited in her homeland, as well as in Britain , Japan , Jordan , Switzerland , and the United States. In her present work she draws on the creative pasts of cultures as geographically disparate as South Asia to Northern Africa. Her art seeks to merge the meditative and ornamental qualities of these elements – to explore new meanings when transferred to the medium of painting.
Sharif Senbel was raised by architects with contrasting ideologies; his father was a modernist and his mother a regionalist. The University of Oregon focused his education on human-based and environmental architecture. His work on four mosques in B.C. draws inspiration from the diverse ethnicities of the congregations while acknowledging the new cultural and environmental context. The designs attempt to root the buildings in a West Coast vernacular, while remaining identifiable within a global Islamic Culture.
Nadia Kurd received her Masters in Art History from York University in 2005 and is currently the Programming Coordinator at SAVAC. Her paper Challenging Islamic Architecture in the Diaspora: A Look at the Brantford Mosque will be published this fall by Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.
