Book review

THE ORIENT IN A MIRROR

How to originally show the Islamic East, its folklore with its specifics and in that way visualize the ‘frozen’ time of the centuries-old rhythms of life of man of the Orient, without being the chaotic modern civilization?

That was probably a question asked by authors Roland and Sabrina Michaud. The saying “the picture says more than words” was the basic concept of this book – photo monography. The authors, except the large introduction in which explain concept and idea of this book put emphasis on the photographic record of life of people with clear comparison to motifs with identical or similar situations that were painted in the Islamic miniatures. They followed this pattern of inspirational artist who wanted to describe the life of an ordinary man with the picture, what is otherwise an important issue in Islamic miniature.

There is a sense that the authors would like to visualize the idea of a ‘frozen’ time, the Eastern man and his jealously guarding what makes man a human being. Humanism is reflected in the everyday and traditional ethical principles. Therefore, through this book, we return to the past without leaving the present. The concept of comparison, where the authors avoid any form of prejudice and banality, the everyday scenes of today’s oriental bazaar and individual situations with similar scenes in miniature motifs, reminiscent of the concept of so called ‘symmetrical calligraphy’ or ‘calligraphy in the mirror’, which is common in Islamic art.

Authors connected two times on the basis for the spiritual matrix. In this book that is done in a very good and effective way. We ‘look’ at the photos and reflect on what we see. The beauty of a moment is immortalized through art miniatures of former painters and the of the modern cameras ‘eye’ of today’s artists. We could say the same motif in a different time and with different media shows the same spirit. Although some examples could be better selected, the book ‘Orient in the mirror’ is quite a good insight into what the authors wanted to show, and it’s timelessness of human existence.

The rest of the article you can read in the magazine.