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Artummah | فن الأمة

Bringing you the contemporary art and culture of the Middle East and North Africa.

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Photo courtesy of Jordanian artist Mo Awwad

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The Liquid Series by Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed #faigahmed "The Liquid Series distorts the patterns of traditional rugs, dismantling their structure in order to build compositions that trick the eye by appearing to melt off the wall. By rearticulating the original design, Ahmed creates contemporary sculptural forms that look like digital glitches, patterns flatlining halfway through a tapestry or gradually morphing into a digital mosaic."- Kate Sierzputowski @k8sierz for Colossal @colossal • • • #modernart #azerbaijan #tradition #roots #culture #ruglife #textiles #trippy #contemporaryart #centralasia #azerbaijaniart #trippyart #baku #psychedelic #dali #surrealism #glitchart #surreal #textileart #sculpture #melting

Kurdish Gang ❤☉💚 By Local Brown Baby @localbrownbaby x Sayran @sayran x @asiyalater Happy new year/sere sal to all Yazidi Kurds! The Yazidi people are a Kurdish speaking ethnoreligious community based in Iraqi Kurdistan who practice a religion influenced by pre-Islamic Assyrian traditions, Sufi and Shiite Islam, Nestorian Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. Their rich oral tradition is their primary way of passing on their beliefs, which makes it complicated for scholars and historians to pin down the nuances of the religion. Though the belief system is rooted in pre-Islamic traditions, the figure credited as the founder of the Yazidi faith is Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a Sufi cleric who died in 1162. Considered to be an incarnation of Melek Taus, Sheikh Musafir's tomb near Mosul, Iraq, is the Yazidi's most important pilgrimage site. The concept of Melek Taus is the most misunderstood part of the Yazidi religion, and is one of the reasons why their community has suffered such historical persecution. The story of Melek Taus bears similarities to the Islamic account of Iblis/Shaitan. In the Islamic tradition, Iblis is a jinn who refused to bow down to Adam out of pride. For this he was banished from Jannah and now exists to tempt humanity into evil. But unlike the fall from grace of Iblis, Melek Taus was forgiven and returned to Jannah to serve as an intermediary between Allah and humanity. The importance of Melek Taus to the Yazidis has given them an undeserved reputation for being devil-worshippers – a notoriety that, in this climate of extremism has turned life threatening.- Yasmine Hafiz for @huffpost • • • #modernart #kurdish #mexico #contemporaryart #middleeast #kurdishart #tradition #mosul #nowruz #middleeastfashion #identity #erbil #roots #kurdistan #ummah#photography #culture #design #kirkuk #sersal #fashion #popup #latinx #yazidi #jewelry #affrin #humanrights #un

Kurdish-Mexican creative Jiyan. Founder of Local Brown Baby @localbrownbaby • • • #modernart #kurdish #mexico #contemporaryart #middleeast #kurdishart #tradition #nowruz #middleeastfashion #identity #roots #kurdistan #ummah #latina #photography #culture #latinxart #photoshoot #design #fashion #popup #latinx #chicana

Kurdish designer Sayran @sayran Photo by Jiyan, founder of Local Brown Baby @localbrownbaby "Kurdish people are about 0.0125% of the US population, so whenever Kurds meet each other here the first thing you have to figure out is if your families know each other. About 6 months ago, I was telling my dad about Sayran's grandfather, the legendary Kurdish painter Jamal Behktyar. He looked at me with a pensive face and said, 'Wait, I know him. That’s Sayran’s grandpa?' He ran to open a drawer filled with old pictures from the 90's. He handed me a photo and said, 'That’s me at a Kurdish gathering with Sayran's mom and grandma… you and Sayran are second cousins.'"- Jiyan • • • #modernart #kurdish #kirkuk #contemporaryart #middleeast #kurdishart #tradition #affrin #kermanshah #identity #roots #middleeastfashion #kurdistan #mosul #ummah #photography #culture #photoshoot #design #fashion #jewelry #family #popup #irbil

Water and Persian Rugs by Jalal Sepehr @jalalsepehr "What inspired this series was my desire to create color contrasts, new moments, and to just make the rugs float and look like they were dancing in the water."- Jalal Sepehr • • • #modernart #iran #persia #ruglife #contemporaryart #middleeast #persianartist #colorful #tradition #tropical #middleeasternart #identity #roots #iranianart #sea #conceptual #ummah #photography #culture #persianrug #gulf #ocean #conceptualphotography #persiangulf #contrast

The Red Zone series by Iranian artist Jalal Sepehr @jalalsepehr via Jdeed @jdeed_magazine and Gulf Photo Plus @gulfphotoplus The intensity of this series is meant to represent the intimate dimension of a community forced to live in a constant state of alarm, in a red zone. On a long walkway made of Persian rugs, boulders, a fierce sandstorm, and a plane that has just taken flight appear regularly and act as obstacles that allude to the unsmooth political transitions in the Middle East. • • • #modernart #iran #persia #ruglife #contemporaryart #middleeast #persianartist #history #tradition #turmoil #middleeasternart #identity #roots #iranianart #crisis #conceptual #ummah #photography #culture #persianrug #politics #conceptualphotography #artdubai