The Guardian’s recent spread on the work of photographer Maïmouna Guerresi may not have been run with the intention of countering either the Islamophobia sweeping the globe or the terroristic acts of Islamic fundamentalists, but it in effect does both. Guerresi’s work, which can currently be seen by Angelenos as part of LACMA’s “Islamic Art Now, Part 2: Contemporary Art of the Middle East” exhibition, draws inspiration from and is a tribute to the mystical spiritual practice of Sufi Muslims.
Born Patrizia Guerresi, the Italian photographer changed her name and religion when she married a Muslim Senegalese man who practiced Sufism, a mystical branch in Islam. A lot of her work, as shown here, taps into the mysticism of the Sufi practice in the effort to capture something of the transcendent moment you shed the barrier between you and the Creator. The dreamlike state of ecstasy you enter is the most heightened and desirable state of consciousness. Guerresi’s work attempts to capture something of the poetry and surrealism of that connection, putting her view of the religion at odds with the aggressively grim, joyless, one-dimensional interpretation offered by fundamentalists.
Adji and Valentina, 2004.
Rumi, the iconic poet and arguably the most well-known Sufi of all time, devoted his life and art to celebrating the Beloved, to bearing witness and singing praises, as in this excerpt of verse:
All of these are symbols – I mean that the other
world keeps coming into this world.
Like cream hidden in the soul of milk, No place
keeps coming into this place.
Like intellect concealed in blood and skin, the
Traceless keeps entering into traces.
And from beyond the intellect, beautiful Love
comes dragging its skirts, a cup of wine in its hand.
And from beyond Love, that Indescribable One
who can only be called “That” keeps coming. – Rumi
All photos by Maïmouna Guerresi
Red Sanga
