Illumination Waqf

Ahmed Mater’s diptych is in the format of pages from a Qur’an manuscript with decorated borders and margin ornamentation. But the borders frame, instead of verses from the Qur’an, torso-length human X-rays. Those familiar with Islamic art would recognize that the human figure is rarely, if ever, seen in a religious context. Yet, the artist’s delicate illumination in gold and blue and the use of the word waqf (meaning “charitable donation”) on the page reference traditional Islamic art, and Qur’an manuscripts in particular. Mater plays with multiple meanings of the word “illumination”: as the precise painted ornament on the page that adds light to God’s word, as the making visible of the interior human body with X-ray technology, and as the lighting up of the soul through the words of God.