Contemporary Islamic Art and the Shackles of ‘Tradition’
By Nur Shkembi

The past and the present are in constant turmoil, blurred lines, unclear, distant and near, out of reach and out of touch. The Muslim artist at times seems to struggle to define themselves in the here and now. Islamic Art and the ‘c’ word, contemporary, seem to curiously repel each other with much gusto. I often consider it to be a linguistic challenge for the Muslim to speak it and an even greater challenge to understand it. The concept of Contemporary Islamic Art is at its infancy when we consider the time line of humanity and the creative limbo the Islamic world has been in since the Golden Era of Spain.

Identity for the Muslim artist seems to be such a huge issue, clarity of objective, creative expression and permission to break away from the past is almost pathologically self denied. Antiques are all we have left in reality. Beautiful, spiritually inspired artworks of the past consume the breadth and width of what one considers or visualises when the term Islamic Art or Muslim Artist is uttered. Why do we feel so obliged to repeat the past when all the past ever is, is the expression of the present, of the now, a now that simply comes to pass.

I often sense that present day Muslim artists are afraid they won’t be able to measure up to the stupendous and brilliant artisans of the Golden Era. Do the psychological shackles of expectation and fear that restrain and constrict the creative souls, cutting into the flesh of the mind, aching and bruising the creative heart and damaging the credence of the artist exist so vehemently that we are doomed to wallow in the past?

Imagination and intelligence feed the spiritual mind offering great beauty and appreciation of Allah’s creation. Dhikr spills forth from the Muslim in a multitude of unique ways. This Dhikr is almost always the primary objective of creation by the Muslim artist. Western art historians have marvelled at this unique expression of faith for generations. It has been said that there is often this peculiar kind of difficulty for the Muslim to create from the ego. This anomaly of the Muslim artist, this inherent distinction of the difficulty or non desire to create from the ego lies simply in this awesome understanding of the Greatness and Unity of God in Islam. Spirituality has no time line therefore one may begin to consider the concept that traditional Islamic Art is Contemporary Art. It is traditional in the understanding that it carries this very same unconscious expression of Dhikr regardless of what form or era it expresses itself in. Islamic Art is the art of the Muslim and the luminous brilliance of the artwork has always been born from the intention of the artist. The form and beauty of Islamic Art has invariably come from the spiritual expression of the Muslim. The Golden Era was simply this unadulterated spiritual expression in the contemporary form of that era. Unique and breathtakingly beautiful art is usually the visual expression of a truth that touches upon the common and innate humanity and spirituality in mankind. Appreciation and inspiration of the past should prove to be the most valuable of teachers for the artists of present rather than the intimidating creative pitfall it currently seems to be. In reality the Muslim artist has the most brilliant of teachers and needs to grasp this. A great teacher is only thus if their student later surpasses them in their greatness, likewise, we must consider the brilliance of the Islamic Art of the past will only be truly brilliant and will only truly matter to the Muslim artist if we embrace and learn and extend ourselves beyond our past and beyond our ‘teachers’.    

Going forth fearlessly, breaking the shackles of the past and creating passionately seems so daunting when we refuse ourselves this understanding of what tradition in Islamic Art truly means . This tradition, this Dhikr will always touch some aspect of our creativity simply because our creativity yearns this unwittingly. We need to redevelop our internal dialogue and appreciation of tradition so we may give ourselves the permission and courage to create in the profound and brilliant manner so admired of the past for the here and now, the past of our future to come.                          
 

Nur Shkembi is a Melbourne based Contemporary Islamic Artist and the current Arts Officer at the Islamic Council of Victoria.

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