Bibliography
Extracts from Newspapers, Magazines and others
Copyright ©Khairat Al-Saleh
Self Portrait
2005
Just Glass, Coach House,
2004
Symbols of Harmony, County Gallery,
2003
*Just Glass, Coach House,
*Journey Through Time, Exhibition of ceramics accompanied by
a lecture, SOAS,
2001
*The Craft Movement's Contemporary Crafts Fair ,
*Inspired by the V&A,
outstanding Calibre.
*Recent Work by 12 Arab Artists,
Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam.
2000 * Lit By Moon, Sun And Stars, solo
Exhibition, Leighton House
Museum,
* Global Women
Project Exhibition,
Flint Institute of Arts,
* Inspired by the V&A, Victoria and
Albert Museum,
outstanding Calibre.
1999
*Traditional Islamic Arts, Sunni Gallery,
* Influenced by the V&A
Collection,
outstanding Calibre.
*Crafts, Riverside Gallery,
*Exhibition of Ceramics and prints,
Russell Sheridan Gallery,
1998
*The Craft Movement's Contemporary Crafts Fair, Kensington,
* 20 Years of Egee Art
Consultancy,
1997
*Arabesque in Traditional Crafts of OIC Countries,
awarded.
* Modern and Contemporary
Syrian Art,
1996
*Opposities, Museum of
Ethnology,
*Art in Action, Waterperry,
*The Dalton Gallery,
1995 *Between
* The Arab Fine Art
Exhibition, The Arab British Chamber of Commerce,
*Visions of East and West,
Sayde Interiors, Belgravia,
1994
Forces of Change, Art in the Arab
World, National Museum for Women in the Arts,
1993
*Royal
*
*
Khairat.
1992
Exhibition of ceramics at
*Fine Art Exhibition,
Artspace, Parkshot Centre,
1991
Café Royale exhibition of the Federation of International Women's
Association in
1990
An exhibition of etchings and paintings at the GATT Gallery of the
United Nations,
1989
Shoman Foundation, later (Darat al Funun) ,
1988
Arab Women Artists in the
Bibliography
Books
Al-Saleh, Khairat, Fabled Cities
Princess and Jinn from Arab Myths and Legends, (
The New Linguaphone Arabic
Language Course, Consultant editor: Khairat
Al-Saleh,
Al-Saleh, Khairat, translator, "Two Verse Plays by
W.B.Yeats", Foreign Horizons,
Attallah, Naim, Women, Quartet Books
Ltd, (
Claudia DeMonte (curator), Women of the World, (Pomegranate
Communications, inc., LA, 2000.)
Glencoe Literature; the Reader's Choice, World
Literature, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, United States 2000, p.416.
Lemsine, Aicha, The Judgement of
Voices: Arab Women Talk,
(published by Tlas,
Salwa Miqdadi Nashashibi, Forces of Change:
Artists of the Arab World,
(The International Council of Women in the Arts, Lafayette, California and The
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, 1994).
Apposities,
Al-saleh, Khairat, Modern and Contemporary Syrian Art: Vibrant
Explorations, (Leighton House Museum, London, 1997).
Around the World with Art, FIWAL, (
Contemporary Arab Art: Recent
work by 12 artista selected by Egee Art Consultancy, (Wereldmuseum,
The
Efgee Art celebrates 20th Anniversary at 2 venues: Soni
Gallery and Egee Art Consultancy, (
Symbols of Harmony, Art from the Islamic World, The County
Gallery, (
The Arab Art Exhibition, The Arab British Chamber Of
Commerce, (
Newspapers, Magazines, Press Releases, and Others
Alexandrian, Sonia, "I am Reviving Ancient Pottery and
Ceramics", BBC Al-Mushahid Al-Siyasi, no. 318, (London, February
1998).
Alrawi, Karim "The Fabulous and
the Fantastic", Inquiry, vol.3 No8 (London, Aughust, 1986) p.-73.
Anne Mullin Burnham, "Reflections in Women's Eyes", Aramco World, Vol.45, No.1, (Houston,
Texas, 1994).
"Reviving the Art of the Potter", Al-thaqafiyya,
Issue no 4, (Arab Cultural Bureau, London, 1997), p.62.
"Arab Art is unfairly Treated: An Interview", Al-Quds
Al-Arabi, (London, March, 1997).
Ceramics Review, (
"ICWA Develops the Contemporary Arts of the Middle East, Africa
and
Ilham Bamihriz, "I have chosen to express myself in colours
and I have made the leap from word to image", Al-Bilaad, (Jeddah,
27 April, 1993).
Imad Al-ghazali, "Miniatures, Calligraphy and Illustrated Stories
Recalling the Arabian nights",Al-Hayat,
(Jeddah, 6, 5, 1993).
Khairat Al-Saleh, Art
and the Journey Through Time: A Potter's Point of View, Speech, delivered at SOAS, University of London, to
Accompany the exhibition Journey through time by the artist, 2003.
"Khairat Al-Saleh in Search of the Lost Link", Al-Muhajir,
Issue no59, (London, June 6, 1995).
"Khairat Al-Saleh: My Values as a human being are
indistinguishable from My Values as an Artist", Al-Arab, (London,
26, 5, 1995).
Lee Adair Lawrence, "Insight into Islam: US Museums Growing
interest in Muslim History and Art", Far eastern Economic Review,
(30 Dec. 1993 and 6Jan. 1994).
Mayzak, Andrew, Orientalism in Islamic Art, 2006, http://web.mac.com/amayzak/iWeb/Andy%27s%20World/About%20Me_files/IMG_0281.png
Mohammad Al-Nimr/" Khairat Al-Saleh is an artist who seeks
inspiration for her art in the dawn of Civilizations", Okaz, (Jeddah, 28
April, 1993).
Nelly Lama, "Women Artists Thrive in
Nihad Al-Hayek, "The Forces of Change in Arab Women Fine
Arts", Al-Majal, (March, 1994).
"Review of Fabled Cities, Princess and Jinn",
Inquiry, (London, September 1985), P.74.
Sunday Telegraph, (
Salwa Khamis, " Drawing on Heritage is not Spontaneous",
Okaz, (Jeddah April 28, 1993).
Seena Ata,"Fabled Cities", Arab Horizons,
(London, August 1986).
Wereldmuseum on Contemporary Arab Art, "Arab
Artists in
Xiauddin, Sardar, "Articles of Faith", New Statesman,
(London, June 1999).
Yusef Abul-Izz, "Drawing on Tradition with the Spirit of
Modernity", Al-Sha'b, (Amman, December 2, 1989).
Yusef Al-Nasir, "The aesthetic objectives of art are not
different from those of religion", Al-Hayat, (London, 3, 5, 1995).
Extracts from books, newspapers, magazines and others
(See details of the sources above)
From
an essay, Orientalism in Islamic Art History, blog, 2006 (see above)
Calligraphy is,
according to Ali, a point of continuity between the past and the present, a way
for modern Muslim artists to use Western mediums and forms while maintaining a
strong link to the past (Ali 151). This cannot be overemphasized.
One look at Khairat al-Saleh’s The Creation 2 and it is evident
she was inspired by the highly traditional forms of the Blue Qur’an and the
Sultan Sha’ban Qur’an. At the time these two antique manuscripts were
created, the text of the Qur’an itself was used to provide the main decoration
for pages, representing of the revealed word of God in visual form (Bloom 71).
The Blue Qur’an uses gold ink on blue-dyed parchment, making the book
itself extremely costly to manufacture as blue was the most expensive dye in
the medieval world and parchment required the skinning of hundreds of animals
for a single Qur’an to be produced (Bloom 73). The Kufic script of Arabic
was used to symbolize the high-status nature of the words on the page and the
text lacks the diacritics which aid the reader in pronunciation and
interpretation of meaning (Bloom 71). By contrast, the Sultan Sha’ban
Qur’an is lavishly decorated with the text neatly including all vowel markings
in a clear, legible script. The use of gold and crushed lapis lazuli on
paper signifies a shift from the more expensive blue-dyed parchment to the more
economical, but arguably more variable and practical medium of paper.
Al-Saleh’s work combines the styles of these two manuscripts while
simultaneously incorporating modern media. She uses the comparatively
modern mediums of gouache and paper, but still writes her letters in gold
leafed Kufic script and surrounds the text with elaborate margin decorations.
The idea that The Creation 2 is supposed to hang on a wall is also
significant because “in Islamic culture, pages from the Qur’an were never torn
out to be framed, and the illusion of two open pages in a free-standing painting
is entirely modern,” (Ali 166). Perhaps this is, as Lewis describes a
self-conscious neoclassical effort, but the media and purpose of the piece
clearly differ from those of the antique Qur’ans and it would be a mistake to
think of The Creation 2 as anything but modern
Dr Mark Hoos, Arts and the Islamic World,
Khairat
Al-Saleh is one of the Arab artists who greatly cherish the richness of Islamic
art and try to revive their
cultural
heritage quite powerfully by creating new forms and offering novel and vivid
contemporary interpretations.
Never the
less she does not only look backward, but strives to create a bridge between
the past and the modern world, and between East and West…The World Art Museum once
more acquired some of her work, which in our opinion, contributes favorably to
our collection. The World, Art Museum in
From a speech delivered during the reception of Contemporary
Arab Art at the
In
over the
world and is dominated by the West. I suppose that, because \this means the sad
loss of other cultures which deserve to be acknowledged and admired, the world
will starve aesthetically, having to rely only on the monopoly of one way
expression.
New Statesman,
Khairat
Al-Saleh uses arabesque, the favorite motif of Islamic art, in her ceramics,
etchings and paintings, to shimmering effect, Arabesque designs can be
analyzed, and described more easily in abstract terms– dark or light,
full or
void, symmetrical or repetitive – than in terms of their concrete details. In
Al-Saleh's work, they become a vehicle for light and colour… Her ceramics are
neat little essays in synthesis and convergence, the classical quest of
arabesque.
From a press release,
An
exhibition of paintings, ceramics and prints, celebrating the duality of the
artist's culture and vision: her passionate Endeavour to express poetically in
her work the vibrancy and intensity of the past, brought to the present in a
shimmering eternal movement of history and geography.
From an interview published by BBC Al-Mushahid
Al-Siyasi magazine,
I owe
allegiance to both West and East and I wish that there will be a time when
civilizations will become partners,…We are not alone in the world and civilizations
have always intertwined and affected each other. …Each
time a
civilization was conquered , it eventually
succeeded in educating the conquerors and a new civilization was
born…
If we try to
trace the history of the world in the Middle East through ceramics, we learn a lesson in
coexistence among the peoples and their neighbors because this interaction was
not a superficial mergence but a real and deep-rooted one, celebrating Asia in Europe and vise versa
while reflecting all the civilizations of the Middle East…There is talk now about
another war to be launched against this
civilization
and many people consider the superiority of the West as a matter of fact, but
no civilization can grow or grew in isolation, and if civilizations cannot link
to each other then they are superficial and shallow. If you are an artist
advocating peace, you will see the light of all civilizations shimmering
against the background of barbarism
From an interview with Al-Quds
Al-'Arabi, newspaper
In general,
great injustice surrounds Arab art at the present because of confusing the political with the
cultural…Power refuses to differentiate between people and politics, between
cultures and governments. It is extremely difficult for the Arabs
to claim
their inalienable rights within the world context because of the conflicts
between civilizations and politics.
Nevertheless, I believe that we are still contributing to world
civilization, although we have problems in both the manner of presenting our
contribution and the manner we behave when we are at the receiving end. We have
to strive to relate, resorting to more humane and civilized methods because our
peoples are the oldest in the world and have proven their right to life and
advancement. If we do not place our culture in this historical context, history
will forget us. Moreover,
it would be
a good thing to always remember that we transmitted and taught civilization to
the world..
.
We cannot revive
the past unless we are an inseparable part of the future. I do not strive to
resurrect the bones in my works for I try to clothe them in fresh garments and
display them anew…In my painting, "The Road to
you might
have noticed in my choice of the styles
of architecture, that the painting contains many architectural levels rising on
top of each other, Greek, Roman, and Islamic.
I do not try to merely portray the physical interpretation of my
subject, but also strive to imbue it with the spiritual. History for me is part
of my very being; therefore, the painting can also be regarded as a quest for
the spiritual city within us.
From an interview with Al-Bilad
newspaper, 27 April 1993
I spent
hours and days at the British Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum,
studying the available Islamic manuscripts, utterly lost in a world of luminous
colours, trying to unlock some of the methods and techniques employed in
painting those manuscripts, especially
the lost art
of gilding…I could not find any expert with the necessary knowledge to assist
me in my quest…so I embarked on a personal search which eventually led me to
use in my works a combination of the old Islamic techniques and contemporary
gilding methods…
Most of the
time, I avoided conventional academic training because I did not want to be a
copy of the others and mainly because what I was seeking was not available. A
fire was burning within me and I thought that I was the only one who could keep
it alive.
I felt like
somebody who had found a priceless treasure and realized that it had to be
protected lest it gets disturbed,
thus losing
its value. I sensed that I was treading a new path, so, enhanced by my
abilities as a researcher, possessing the faculties of observation and the
facility to acquire knowledge from scrutiny and diligent pursuit. I embarked on
a non stoppable quest. Deep within me, there is the belief that our first and
ultimate teacher lies within the self, while what the others can do is to lead
us to this inner teacher and awaken him or her.
From an article in Al-Sha'b newspaper,
Khairat
Al-Saleh is an artist whose imagination is enriched by an idealism, which
pulsates with the spirit of the history
of Arab
civilization. She relives the past of this civilization with tremendous depth,
which clothes her works with a kind
of
luminosity so imbued with history…
Khairat's
works when viewed by an Arab, convey the feeling that though they are visually
Eastern, yet they are
Western in
structure and vision… while the European viewer is likely to feel the
opposite. She will not satisfy either.
This is her
fate for the time being but as time passes and with a lot of determination, she
is going to make her mark
and attain
artistic recognition because of her artistic intellect with its literary and
scholarly connotation, which delves deeply in order to acquire a new vision.
[Looking
at her painting, entitled "Women
Mourning a Child"]…for a moment I thought I was staring at an eighth
or ninth
century Russian icon. It draws you in because of its colourful intensity and
the enormity of the event it is
depicting.
When you come closer, you become aware of the sorrowfulness of the three women
and the atmosphere of death
and the pain
of separation. The structure of the
background gains in complexity then cuts down dramatically to reveal the three
women, which compels you to identify with them in their search for the dead
child at their feet…
She treads a
very difficult path, making a laborious use of ancient Islamic techniques,
while at the same time maintaining her contemporaneousness.
From an article in Jordan Times,
Her
excellence is in the fact that she seems to always arrive to a point where you
can neither add to, nor take away
from her
painting, and that is the absolute definition of good art.
From a review of Fabled Cities, Princes and
Jin, published in Inquiry,
This volume
is recommended wholeheartedly for both Muslim and non-Muslim children. It is
one of those rare books
that combine an excellent presentation with an
informative and well written text.
From a review of Fabled
Cities, Princes and Jin, published in Arab Horizons,
If we
consider that this book aims at the biggest number of European readers, it has
been very successful in communicating a simple and beautiful idea about Arab
history, which would not have been as effective in a more
sophisticated
manner.
From an TV
interview with MBC, London, 1995
I am not
against seeking inspiration from Western art and civilization. Look at my works of art and you will find
Western influences everywhere. Most of my techniques, especially in graphics,
are either western or personally developed from western examples. Only I try to
control these influences according to my needs. I believe that the whole world
at this juncture of history, has grown smaller and more accessible, which ought
to drive us to recognize other cultures and adopt them because they are part of
world civilization. Consider us, we who live in the West. I believe we are
privileged and enriched because we understand so much about European
civilization - we do not merely understand for some of us have adopted and
assimilated the best and the most valuable principles that this civilization has to offer. Yet at the same time,
we have other priceless cultural treasures.
We belong to the oldest of worlds and civilizations. Are we so s foolish
and ignorant as to give up 10000 years of civilization In order to only belong
to one
civilization,
the youngest and most recent of all civilization? Do you not believe that such
a choice will imply
dispossession
and an unimaginable loss?
My idea is
that it is futile to call for a global unified language in art. The only unity
we can hope for is through
multiplicity. We are like the spectrum
that cannot exist without its colourful components of lights. Take one away
And the
spectrum in not there. Therefore, why do we feel compelled, we who own such a
great magnificent
heritage, to
blindly, indiscriminately imitate the West, especially at this moment of
history when all is not well with Western civilization? The West itself is displaying great boredom
and dissatisfaction with many of its present forms, methods and patterns of
thought. The greatest danger to world civilization now is the supremacy of one
all-powerful civilization which is displaying great contempt to all that is not
made in its own image…
Every human
being has experienced pain, if not personal, then universal because of
suffering humanity. People are suffering everywhere, in Africa, in the Middle
East, in
that I would
like to bring joy and light to all those who view my works. Why should we live
in darkness and experience only pain and sorrow? Pain distorts the soul. That
is why we need joy and happiness. There is darkness and light, life and death,
an endless duality. Life teaches us
duality, therefore we must never forget that…
I have learnt
a valuable lesson from the history of Arab Islamic art. While creating his
works of art, the artist does not
try to
project his personality. There is something far surpassing the ego of the
artist; it is a universal vision of things
that belongs
to humankind, and not only to a self-centered obsession with the self. When I
am painting, I do not want khairat alone to paint. I want the past, the present
and the future to paint with me, I want to paint and feel that a civilization
is painting with me. My ego is not important…
My style
displays my hunger for different forms and techniques. I strive to master techniques because I
believe in the
intrinsic
unity between art and craft. I started with craft, and spent hours educating my
fingers, trying to teach them
how to use
colour and clay, endeavoring to do so like a craftsman and not like an artist.
I have great respect for the
Arab
craftsmen who during the periods of political disintegration and the
ensuing darkness which paralyzed the
arts, kept our heritage ticking by
imitating the old forms and patterns, handed to them by their fathers,
and preserving them..
Every piece
of my ceramics is a traveler, not only geographically but historically as
well. I do not care if some people
believe that I belong more to the pest than to the present because I regard all
time as one and that past, present and
future meet at one point. I wish to penetrate the wall of time, like
the many artists who lived years before yet are still with us today.
Copyright ©Khairat
Al-Saleh
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