Islam Aly
Cairo, Egypt
Cairo, Egypt
Sacred Meanings, Edition of 40 3" x 6" x 2" Laser-cut mold-made Johannot paper, 20 sections - each section 4 folios, laser-engraved plexiglass covers, Coptic binding with linen thread
Fantastic Fauna, Edition of 40 5" x 8" x 1 3/4" Laser-cut mold-made Johannot paper, laser-engraved wooden boards, Coptic binding with leather wrappings connected to five small books.
Bio: Islam Aly is an artist, teacher, and researcher. After receiving a BA and an MA in Art Education from Helwan University in Egypt, he graduated from the University of Iowa with an MFA in Book Arts and a PhD in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in Art Education. His books explore the possibilities of historical bindings in contemporary book art practice. Combining book traditions with digital technologies, Aly creates his works at the junctions between culture, technology, and aesthetics.
Statement: Fantastic Fauna is a bilingual book in English and Arabic based on the tradition of using animal characteristics to caricature humans. The book was inspired by Ibn Al Mqufas's, Kalila and Dimna, a ninth-century collection of animal fables that came to Persia from India. Similar to George Orwell's political allegory, Animal Farm, the stories are about people and politics. The animal characters were used to represent social inequality and oppression.
This work shows animal images from medieval Islamic artwork that depicts imaginary and real animals. The book offers the reader a different reality where the words describing the animals are not in the main book but inside the miniature books. The reader will be intrigued to find differences and connections between images and words, and between animal and human characters. The book ends with a quotation from Orwell: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Sacred Meanings is based on the hexagon, one of the predominant shapes in creating grids and patterns in Islamic art. The form of the book, its words, and its progression reveal the fading and development of a pattern. The book invites viewers to consider their experiences with the transcendent and indivisible. Sacred Meanings presents an encounter that deals with the dichotomies of life: fall and rise, suspicion and faith, disorientation and orientation, chaos and order.
Statement: Fantastic Fauna is a bilingual book in English and Arabic based on the tradition of using animal characteristics to caricature humans. The book was inspired by Ibn Al Mqufas's, Kalila and Dimna, a ninth-century collection of animal fables that came to Persia from India. Similar to George Orwell's political allegory, Animal Farm, the stories are about people and politics. The animal characters were used to represent social inequality and oppression.
This work shows animal images from medieval Islamic artwork that depicts imaginary and real animals. The book offers the reader a different reality where the words describing the animals are not in the main book but inside the miniature books. The reader will be intrigued to find differences and connections between images and words, and between animal and human characters. The book ends with a quotation from Orwell: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Sacred Meanings is based on the hexagon, one of the predominant shapes in creating grids and patterns in Islamic art. The form of the book, its words, and its progression reveal the fading and development of a pattern. The book invites viewers to consider their experiences with the transcendent and indivisible. Sacred Meanings presents an encounter that deals with the dichotomies of life: fall and rise, suspicion and faith, disorientation and orientation, chaos and order.