Combine paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, music, dance, Arabic writing, Muslim prayers and even a faux, illuminated X-ray of an ankle in the Fox Theatre’s Egyptian Ballroom, and you get the Emory Art Gala.

The event was sponsored by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and took place Sunday evening. A visual arts display and a performance by special guests the Whirling Dervishes, a group from Turkey, were the main events of the evening. Emory students as well as professional artists participated in the Gala.

The theme of the event was “Light Upon Light: The All-Knowing and the Search for the Human Spirit.” College senior Mohammad Zaidi, co-chair of the event, linked the theme to the individual’s connection to the universe and finding one’s self through art in his introduction to the event. College sophomore Asad Abdulla and College junior Neela Lalani also co-chaired the event.

Against an elegant backdrop of large columns decorated with Egyptian symbols that reached up into high ceilings were displays of the colorful art in various sizes, subjects and techniques in circular groupings of easels. The majority of the work featured symbols, patterns and writing from Muslim culture.

College junior Maryam Khalid’s photographs showed some of her travels to various places, from the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Turkey to Las Casas de los Arabes in Havana, Cuba. Although her pieces feature Islamic locations, what really motivates her is the atmosphere in the spaces she photographs.

“What inspires me is how the light catches on things, like stained glass windows,” Khalid said.

Khalid was originally nervous to be included in an exhibition with professional artists because photography is simply a hobby for her. But her initial nervousness faded during the Gala.

“It’s an honor to be at the Fox,” she said. “It carries some weight with it.”
Paintings of Arabic writing with abstract designs were a popular subject. Professional artists such Azra Qureshi made works with striking blocks of color with writing and scripture.

Professional artist Seema Ahmad’s paintings included vivid colors. One painting showed a view out of a window from a dark room, and the window looked out onto a seascape made up of the most vibrant blues and greens. A series of archways that looked like the inside of a mosque were augmented with bright orange. Overlaid on the images were prints of designs reminiscent of mosaics from the Middle East.

Not all of the art was about Muslim culture. Professional artist Umair Khan’s simulation of an X-ray of a foot lit from the back with a light-up screen stood out from the rest of the art because of its different medium. From afar, the X-rays look like real ones from a doctor. But up close, the viewer can tell that the images were actually scratched away from a special black paper.

Professional artist Jan Levin presented two types of work: still lifes of brightly colored fruit and flowers as well as small house models crafted from stone and cement. These houses are made to be put in gardens and have a space to hold a candle, which illuminates the small structure.

Also sitting on and around the houses were small, quirky figures made out of modeling clay by another artist who goes by the name Old Dog. The figures included a donkey, a boy eating a piece of fruit and a fiddler sitting on a roo.

Levin’s ideas for her art come from the world around her.

“There is so much beauty in this world that we bypass,” she said. “I capture what God has created and get us to stop and look and say, ‘thank you.’”

The idea of capturing the beauty of the world was apparent in College senior Munir Meghjani’s photographs. They were simplistic in form, but powerful with images such as a dark sky behind a stone fence with a sliver of light coming through or a bright white moon during the day against a pure blue sky.

Artist Matthew Stevens, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a recent convert to Islam, photographed Islamic architecture, mosaics and writing as well as secular images of flowers to show the beauty of the world and from his travels in southern Spain and Syria.

During the evening, the Whirling Dervishes, musicians and dancers of the Mevlevi order of Islam, performed their traditional Turkish music along with twirling dance.

The focus turned from the art to the performance in the center of the ballroom. To help emphasize their message of love, the group invited the audience to participate in part of the performance by sitting around in a circle.

No Emory event is complete without a visit from the University’s unofficial mascot Lord James W. Dooley and his entourage who made a special appearance.
When asked by a guest if he liked the art he saw at the Gala, Dooley shook his head with an enthusiastic yes.

— Contact Leslie Hochsztein.