Qasaid Al-Hallaj
Etel Adnan's Leporello work; Japanese-style, accordion-fold notebook that features handwritten poetry and dreamy watercolor sketches
Al-Hallaj, Qasaid (2008) by ETEL ADNANDalloul Art Foundation
Etel Adnan was born in Beirut in 1925 to a Greek mother from Smyrna, and a Damascus-born father, a high-ranking Ottoman official. Though renowned for her poetry, she achieved international recognition as a visual artist only in her late eighties.
Adnan expressed her philosophical ideas in prose, poetry, playwriting, and visual arts. A nomadic cosmopolitan, influenced by the writings of Baudelaire, Balzac, Paul Souriau & Gaston Bachelard, Adnan expressed her philosophical ideals in prose, poetry, playwriting and visual arts.
Philosophically, Adnan is attracted to the notion of infinity through spirituality, influenced by the poetic writings of Joanne Kyger, a Zen Buddhist, and the Sufi philosophy of Al-Hallaj’s poems.
This philosophy, combined with her investment in the idea of sunlight as life-giving and revelatory, is expressed through her Leporello works; Japanese-style, accordion-fold notebooks that feature handwritten poetry and dreamy watercolor sketches.
From the full biography of Etel Adnan by Wafa Roz
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