SECOND GENERATION COLLECTIVE
Vádyé Eshgh وادی عشق (Valley of Love)
Vádyé Eshgh وادی عشق (Valley of Love)
2025, calligraphic, mural
Commissioned as part of Vádyé Eshgh وادی عشق (Valley of Love) in collaboration with Second Generation Collective for Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, WA. This project was supported by Creative Australia’s Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy (VACS) Major Commissioning Projects fund and through the generosity of PICA’s Art Commissioners.
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In Circumambulation, I have overlaid a quote by Bahá’u’lláh in an exploration of love and it’s more mystical qualities. I was inspired by expressions of love in nature, such as the human eye, the rose flower, and in particular the love and adoration of the Sun towards the Earth, whose immense gravity compels the Earth to spend it’s life spinning around its beloved.
Written in Persian, The Seven Valleys is a mystical work by Bahá’u’lláh the founder of the Bahá‘i Faith which follows the structure of Attar of Nishapur’s Conference of the Birds, an influential poem following the journey of birds to find the legendary Simorgh across seven valleys. Bahá’u’lláh‘s work follows the journey of the soul through these seven valleys or seven stages. Importantly, Bahá’u’lláh has in many instances referred to Himself as a Nightingale, which is a songbird known for it’s love of the rose. Circumambulation was inspired by a quote from the second valley, the Valley of Love, which has been translated below:
و تا بنار عشق نیفروزی بیار شوق نیامیزی
and until thou burn with the fire of love, thou shalt never find thyself in true yearning’s embrace.
By Bahá’u’lláh, The Seven Valleys /هفت وادی
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Photo credit : Rebecca Mansell