Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival - Choi+ Shine

Islamic Arts Festival

The Power of One

The House of Wisdom

25th Islamic Arts Festival

Sharjah, UAE

Dec. 14, 2023- Jan. 23, 2024

Design

Jin Choi and Thomas Shine

Thanks to

Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival High Committee

Sharjah Art Museum

Nahla Alawahdi

Special Thanks to

Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

Volunteers in Fukuoka, Japan

Sharjah Govt

Media Bureau

Originally created with the volunteers in Fukuoka and funded and organised by Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, the Power of One is comprised of simple geometric lace forms detached and suspended over the water fountain against majestic House of Wisdom.

Ritual is an act of transforming a habit into a ceremonial occasion, a contemplative order. Water has a ceremonial significance in many cultures and religions, purification of one’s essence, creating a reflection that manifests the reality, or rather, an ethereal levitation of the reality.

Generally, lace is small in scale, and often private, used as an symbols for a special celebration, milestones of life. Shown in a large scale in a public place, the lace creates a sense of surprise which contributes to our collective memory.

The lace is hand made with the volunteers, which makes the process of making art as important and meaningful as its completion. The lace symbolically weaves different people and cultures, while physically, the openings in the surface create patterns of light against dark, a juxtaposition of a permeable surface on different visual layers.

The patterns, interpreted from cultural heritage and natural elements are incorporated into the lace, creating a depth of complexion from a simple repetition of mathematical geometry. The pattern, threaded in the air and reflected in the water, provokes one’s search for the comprehensible and leads to the meditative journey for the clarity. The porous lace membranes form the windows through which we re-discover the beauty within and around us.

Photo credit