‘Mirror Reflection’

The exhibition 'Mirror Reflection' brought together ten Bosnian artists in their creative expression to explore Islamic spirituality, as a part of their cultural heritage.

Art and spirituality are inseparable, so artists have the need to constantly visually explore and show another side of the this world, the inner dimensions of our existence. Meliha TepariÄ‡, the curator of the exhibition explains "Since spirituality in its base is elusive and unthinkable any attempt to present it becomes a subjective perception, a reflection of images, hence the name of the exhibition 'Mirror Reflection'."

The exhibition 'Mirror Reflection' featured ten Bosnian artists: Admir MujkiÄ‡, Amela HadÅ¾imejliÄ‡, Ä†azim HadÅ¾imejliÄ‡, Halida EmriÄ‡, Haris Memija, Meliha TepariÄ‡, Mirza Agic, Samir SinanoviÄ‡, Sead EmriÄ‡ and Taida JaÅ¡areviÄ‡.

Capturing the form and movement of dervishes is very inspiring to many artists and photographers. In the graphic prints Admir MujkiÄ‡ shows dervishes as spiritual silhouettes; a photographer Haris Memija captures the movement and the atmosphere during the dervish performances in the series of photographs titled 'Ashq in Bosnia', while a photographer Mirza AgiÄ‡ explores black and white photography to present a symbolic notion that dervishes reject the black uniform of the material world using white robes as a metaphor for the spiritual world.

Admir MujkiÄ‡, KrajiÅ¡nik, iris print / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Haris Memija, Ashq in Bosnia / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Mirza Agic, Sema, Dervish Dance, 2015 / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The work by well known Bosnian calligrapher and book binding expert Ä†azim HadÅ¾imejliÄ‡ shows prints on the leather, gilded with gold to symbolize a pure and crystallized soul converted to illuminated gold.

Ä†azim HadÅ¾imejliÄ‡ / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

It was interesting to see the ninety-nine bowls of clay by ceramic artist Halida EmriÄ‡, each in a different colour symbolizing the 99 divine names and attributes of Allah.

Halida Emric, 99 bowls of clay / Photo by Meliha Teparic

Meliha TepariÄ‡ works with calligraphic forms in kufic style, researching meaning and interpretation while using negative and positive form to indicate the overall complexity of all the things around us, and their primary, inner dimension of existence.

Meliha TepariÄ‡, Allah, Muhammad and Ali, 2015, wood / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The photographs by Samir SinanoviÄ‡, inspired by Rumi's verse 'love is the perfect thirst', were photographed somewhere in the heart of the Bosnian mountains. They show rocks and waterfalls from which a drop of water separated from its original condition and was transformed like a dervish in ecstatic dance.

Samir SinanoviÄ‡, Sema, 2014 / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The graphic prints by Taide JaÅ¡areviÄ‡ are inspired by Rumi's verse 'we were born and live in this black water' as a metaphor of constant change of life while the essence remains the same, and that is love; while graphic prints by Sead EmriÄ‡ show symbols of the Suleyman seal - a circular calligraphic rosette of the Sinan Tekke and motives of Bosnian dishes.

Taida JaÅ¡areviÄ‡, From the Series Black Water, deep print (intaglio), 110x110 cm / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Sead Emric / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

At the exhibition we could also see a video by Amela HadÅ¾imejliÄ‡ that present a sound of the dervish ritual dhikr, combined with different designs of tekija's carpets.

Amela HadÅ¾imejliÄ‡, a still from the video 'Dhikr', 2009 / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine