Chronicler of the Souls

In his complex creative process, Ahmed Mater has always enriched his work with reflection and narration. In his ongoing search for historical references, he explores a wealth of textual, iconographic, and intellectual sources from Islamic, Asian, or Western cultures. In a visible and evident way, as is the case with his Illuminations series, or more subtly with historical or religious texts that accompanied the conception of his Desert of Pharan project, the historical and scientific research conducted by Mater takes on a new dimension in his current project, Ashab Al-Lal (mirage). 

Commissioned to produce an installation in Wadi AlFann, the Valley of the Arts, located in the desert landscape of AlUla in northwestern Saudi Arabia, Mater began his reflection process by exploring the region. Informed by his experience of the geography of Saudi Arabia from his youth and the radiography of Mecca he produced in his Desert of Pharan series, he encountered a land rich in stories whose rare figurative representations from ancient times are scattered across the vast desert. The artist’s attention focused on a unique element of the desert journey -the mirage- and embarked on an extremely ambitious project to naturally reproduce it through a unique engineering system. This natural optical phenomenon, which takes the form of the most sought-after resource in this environment -water- becomes a guide and a rationale to continue the journey into the desert, often evoking a psychological reaction and mysticism in travellers. The mirage also ties into a central idea in Mater’s artistic thought, related to the notion of the ephemeral; the ephemeral nature of human life conveyed in Islamic thought, and elucidated in the Qur’an, especially in Surah Al-Kahf. 

While some creators may feel apprehensive about the ambition of certain projects, leading them to reconsider their artistic choices, Mater has always been committed to finding solutions to his creative needs, sometimes calling upon new collaborations. Constantly merging artistic, intellectual, and scientific inquiries, he appears in this regard as a physicist and scientist, sometimes even an alchemist. This image reinforced by the industrial hangar that serves as his studio and the specialised equipment within the space. The artist’s studio also preserves a vast library and archives, which evidences Mater’s quest for knowledge and historical references in his creative process. The world of mathematics, engineering, and cartography have always been important sources for his curious mind, particularly the advancement of Islamic intellectual heritage.

The repertoire of the Illumination series, which Mater has produced since an early stage of his career and which reflects the central role of Islamic intellectual heritage in his work, expands with Ashab Al-Lal. For this project, he draws inspiration directly from the iconography of medieval manuscripts on mathematics, geometry, and astronomy from the Muslim worlds; a period known as the “Golden Age” of the Arab and Muslim world. This aspect first captures us upon seeing the preparatory works and the accompanying sculptures of Ashab Al-Lal. One of the most fascinating elements of Mater’s creative process is the new place and influence of historical references in the conception of his project. In understanding the phenomenon of mirages, the artist turns to the scholars of the Islamic period to understand their genesis. In particular, the book on optics by mathematician and astronomer Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (965-1040), in which the Iraqi scholar presents his ideas on the nature of light and colours, and the path of light rays. The experiments conducted by the medieval astronomer, which included studies of the human eye – the primary tool for artists - used the camera obscura, of which he made significant contributions to its development.

However, Ashab al-Lal signifies an important evolution in his process of reflection and conception. Mater, an artist with an acute curiosity, goes beyond this Islamic matrix by also drawing inspiration from another “golden age” - 18th century Europe. During this period, France saw a profound movement of reflection regarding man’s place in his spiritual and natural environment. The philosophers of the time, known as the “Age of Enlightenment,” generated profound reflections and questions that led to notable advances in philosophy, sciences, arts, and literature. While the thinkers of that time often viewed their society as confused and unbalanced, architecture leaned towards a more rigorous design and regimented ornamentation, expressing a newfound desire for order, inspired by idealised visions of Greek and Roman societies.

This architecture of the mind, imbued with the philosophical ideas of its time, was perfectly expressed through several projects featuring spherical structures, designed by architect Claude- Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806). However, the one that most inspired Mater is the utopian project of architect Etienne-Louis Boullée of a cenotaph in memory of Isaac Newton, designed in 1784. The building conceived by the French neoclassical architect envisioned the shape of a monumental sphere composed of several rings, reproducing a miniature model of the universe, whose dynamics were discovered by Newton. Inside, Boullée reversed external conditions, creating a daylight effect at night, while during the day, the room was plunged into darkness. A thin light filtering through oculi offered the view of a starry night, recreating the celestial effect.

Through the architectural expression of this visionary project that was never realised, Boullée aimed to create a place of contemplation, which served as inspiration for Mater. With the expression of a purified architecture that harmonises with its immediate natural environment, the architect wanted to build a spiritual refuge where the visitors are invited to meditate and experience the immateriality of this world: “this beautiful place would be the image of all that ensures our well-being; it would fill our hearts with a sense of joy and would be for us a true earthly Paradise.”

Thus, these feelings of contemplation and spirituality serve as an inspiration for Ashab Al-Lal. During his process of reflection that catalysed the project’s design, Mater sought to invite visitors to amplify the very experience of his natural environment, the desert; an environment that, by the purity of forms and its serenity, prompts nomadic inhabitants or travellers toward constant meditation and introspection. It is interesting to note the coincidence that for his project, located in a historical site known for its funerary architecture, Mater drew direct inspiration from one of the most famous mausoleums, Newton Cenotaphs’, which itself was inspired by Roman and Egyptian funerary architecture. 

However, a significant difference lies in the approach to designing these two structures. While Boullée intended to celebrate cosmic and earthly elements by envisioning a paradise on earth and a refuge for the mind, he concentrated on the central place of man, and his vision of paradise differs from Ahmed Mater. As for Mater’s artistic production and worldview, his vision of paradise revolves around the centrality, or rather the superiority, of the divine as described in the Qur’an and the sacred texts. This cosmic connection takes on a new form and ingenuity, marking an evolution in Mater’s creative process. 

In what could be described as a temple of meditation in AlUla, an extraordinary mechanism is designed using a system of projections with two concave mirrors of similar dimensions. This setup allows the reflection of objects to appear and disappear depending on the spectator’s position. At the upper part of this mirascope, an open-air aperture projects the image of the person standing on the lower platform, who appears to be naturally floating, reproducing the mirage effect. This monumental mirascope, nestled in the sands amidst the rock formations of AlUla, allows visitors entering the architectural structure to see their projection magically appearing in the opening of the elevated part at ground level. Simultaneously, spectators surrounding this giant oculus in the upper part will formations, in the lower part carved into the interior of the mirascope.

This complex engineering, which underwent an extensive design process to perfect its unique and enchanting effects, arguably makes Ashab Al-Lal Mater’s most ambitious project to date. The ingenious architecture, reminiscent of visitors observing the light penetrating the oculus of the Pantheon’s dome in Rome, has been the subject of numerous studies and was at the centre of the engineering of this project executed with the help of the physics and astronomy laboratory of the University of Padova. This not only highlights the classical influences for Mater in this project, but also his dexterity and curiosity as a former physician, constantly pushing the boundaries of his practice. It underscores the artist’s ability to forge new artistic, intellectual, and scientific collaborations to best meet the needs of his practice. These collaborations, which have been developing since Mater’s early days in Al-Meftaha Art Village, reflect his evolution over the past twenty years and the new stature of the artist. 

His ability to innovate by blending physics, art, and spirituality, has been expressed in several of his projects. One project that bears the most similarities with Ashab Al-Lal is the installation Magnetism and its simple yet innovative use of magnets. In the latter, Mater recreates and questions the strong attraction of the “House of God,” the Kaaba, for believers, whilst Ashab Al- Lal was conceived with a deeply mystical connection with the divine. By projecting an image of the spectator in the upper part of the mirascope, and generating the image in the lower part, Mater recreates an exegetical mirage. While perhaps less spectacular than the rite of circumambulation, it nevertheless holds significant religious symbolism in Muslim thought, corresponding to the celestial ascent of the soul.

Mentioned in verse 42 of Surah Az-Zumar (39:42), Muslim thought suggests that the believer’s soul leaves their body during sleep to join the heavens and their Creator when it is pure. This nocturnal and celestial ascent constitutes one of the most mysterious acts of Muslim belief- an act of union with Allah, likening to the rite of circumambulation around his sacred house, in a quest for spiritual closeness and the purification of the believer’s soul. Ashab Al-Lal, the night mirage, thus reflects the image of the ephemeral nature of this world, which vanishes when one tries to grasp it up close. In reality, Ashab al-Lal is a temple of spiritual elevation, abstract and invisible to the believer, where the mirage of man communes, not with the exceptional natural environment surrounding it, as per Etienne-Louis Boullée’s concepts, but with its spiritual environment, following the Islamic artistic and scientific approach that Mater naturally embodies.

In the Magnetism series, the synergy and relationship with the divine were established in a horizontal and circular connection, in a setting reproducing the activity, energy, and invisible force around the Kaaba. Within the circular form of Ashab Al-Lal, Mater explores a new vertical connection, echoing the famous Miraj of Islamic tradition: the nocturnal and celestial ascent of the prophet Muhammad on the Burâq during his encounter with Allah. Similar to Magnetism, what stands out is the artist’s choice to project an image of a human onto the desert environment of AlUla, thus populating the desert landscape where human presence was previously scarcely visible in a territory known for its funerary art.

This approach also refers to an essential aspect of Mater’s work: his focus on human presence. Whether in his early works, or more recent projects like Desert of Pharan, he explores individual’s life in public spaces or in more intimate settings, during the religious passion of pilgrimage or his reproduction as moving dark waves of iron filings surrounding the Kaaba, Mater observes, interprets, documents, and reproduces the place of man in society and within muslim religious thought. 

Indeed, Ashab Al-Lal perfectly aligns with this line of thought. While we are astonished by observing the architecture and aesthetic aspects of the design, as well as the complexity of the engineering, the conception of this magnificent project, revolves around the human – evidenced by their reflection at the centre of the mirascope – and their image, presence, ephemerality, and dialogue with the divine. Ashab Al-Lal is likely the work that most clearly reveals the recurring and mystical questioning in Mater’s artistic practice, particularly with regards to souls. This inquiry, or rather a matrix, becomes highly visible in the analysis of his works and rereading of his texts, especially when discussing his medical career: “the idea of looking deep within ourselves, exploring the inside of our beings, became my touchstone. I suppose you could say it was a powerful metaphor in a community and religious culture that generally discouraged too much self-analysis.”

This questioning accompanied the artist when he produced his X-ray Illuminations. When Mater invited us to look closely at his patients’ skeletons and stated that they could only heal through a holistic approach, he was inviting us to look through their bodies, closely at their souls, which became illuminated like a sacred text. When Mater photographed the X-ray of his artistic mentor and guide, Abdulhalim Radwi , he religiously preserved and exhibited the image as if revealing a relic, an image capturing the soul of his venerated master (p.200). In Islamic spirituality, there are remedies not taught in medical schools and doctor’s offices, remedies only known to those experienced in esotericism for healing the body, and above all the soul. This soul – nafs in Arabic – mentioned in the Qur’an, distinguishes humans from angels and other divine creatures, and its preservation from worldly passions is, according to the sacred scripture of Islam, one of the keys to Paradise (Surah An-Nazi’at 79: 40-41).

Bibliography

Helen Rosenau and Etienne Louis Boullée, Boullée & Visionary Architecture (London, New York: Academy Editions; Harmony Books, 1976), 88.