THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY_ENGLISH

touch to the original structure or presenting them in an abstract form. Some artists painted the sacred mosques after watching them from a remote place while others drew them after having closer contact. On the other hand, there are others who painted their pictures based on their imaginations and were successful in bringing about an excellent blend of materialism and spirituality. The manifestation of holiness differed from one artist to another. The artist Mohammed AI-Shammary said he had a feeling of dignity and honor mixed with fear when he started his drawings of the three holy mosques and he tried to present his feelings in a symbolic manner. Artist Masrul Hendrik (Zul) registers his artistic impressions by reflecting the historical importance of the place. When he started his paintings, he was influenced by historical and religious feelings as he found the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem connected with the history of Prophets, while the Prophet’s Mosque with the grave of the last and greatest Prophet. The Grand Mosque in Makkah was represented by the Holy Kaaba, toward which Muslims all over the world turn to in prayer. In the paintings of Adel AI Sewi we see a totally different vision. Preoccupied by the holiness of the city’s features, he was trying to discover the fusion of holiness with monotheism by focusing on a single spot. He gave only secondary importance to the architectural development of the city. According to him, “The holy city moves around its religious center.” Artists have used different colors in order to depict their emotions while painting the holy place. We find this outstanding feature in most of the works. Artists like Dia Aziz Dia said they had a feeling of fear fromthe start of thework.“Fromthemomentmy brush touched the canvas, I was having a great deal of fear and humbleness, which accompanied me until the end as if painting had become a sort of worship.”

as Western arts. However, we can observe an apparent similarity in their direct handling of the exhibition’s fundamental theme, except in a limited number of works, like that of Ranya Sarakbi . She is one of the participants who showed an inclination toward expressionism taking the philosophy of movement as a way of artistic expression. She says: “The Haj ritual manifests that we are destined to circle the orbit and we will not be able to get out of it at all from the point of formation.” In her three works, that reflect unity of performance and variation of movement, one can observe a kind of perplexity represented by a state of continuous circling andmovement. Her works are also distinguished for their simplicity that is evident in her choice of colors and spontaneous expression. A number of participating artists considered the scene as the launch pad for their artistic expression as some of them presented what they have seen either in the form of an illustration or a symbol or abstract or a shortened form while others spent more time on perfection and details. There are yet others who tried to give their works a magic touch to make themmore attractive and impressive. Some artists, on the other hand, were immersed in thinking in their bid to fathom the essence in order to highlight the holiness and importance of the place. Artist Zul , for example, focused on the panoramic scene of the place. He was overwhelmed by the grandeur of worship when he depicted the faithful circling and praying at the Grand Mosque in Makkah as well as in the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. He gave each mosque special colors to differentiate them with an artistic vision. He also makes additions that forcefully present his artistic personality. As did Dia Aziz Dia , who through his works tries to project the brilliance and dignity of places and rises with his imagination to the heavens to see the Grand Mosque in the middle of Makkah valley and Al-Nour Mountains overlooking the holy mosque. Dia assumed that “the last quarter of the night is the time for communication between man and God” and his painting of Makkah was based on this vision. He adds: “All these sanctities are united by one thing: The light of Allah.”

The works of this exhibition can be classified into different artistic genres that have been influenced by local and Islamic arts as well

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