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Spirituality
and Modernity in Two Umayyad Mosques
By Said Nuseibeh
Palestinian American Artist
In
this series of photographs, Said Nuseibeh attempts to
communicate the magnificent and mystical aura that pervades two
majestic mosques: the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and the Al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem. Emphasizing the ethereal – the radiance of
light and the foil of shadow – rather than the architecture
itself or its historic episode, Nuseibeh sees these mosques not
as dilapidated ruins of a bygone era but as touchstones to a
creative civilization. Built as celebrations of a transcendental
closeness to the divine, the mosques possess a radiant energy
and architectural significance that Nuseibeh's photographs
vividly reveal. "A meager preservation exercise," his images
serve as a memorial to a forgotten people as well as a torch to
the living, showing the wonders awaiting those who forestall the
erosion of our past. Spirituality and Modernity in Two
Umayyad Mosques is thus the product of Nuseibeh's "struggle
to articulate revelation in Bilad al-Sham."
Vaults: Crossing Over
With Vaults: Crossing Over, Said Nuseibeh focuses on one
particular architectural feature, investigating its elegant and
suggestive form as well as the diverse sensations that it
evokes. Nuseibeh's textural and tonal black and white
photographs explore the intersection points of vaults, the
"sensuality of [their] curve, and their "lyrical inspirations of
flight."
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Said Nuseibeh - Curriculum Vitae
Conceived in Jerusalem and born in San
Francisco, Nuseibeh is a professional photographer who
balances his fine art work with commercial assignments.
He has been photographing and exhibiting since the age
of thirteen. Nuseibeh had the first photography
exhibition at The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts
in 1986, displaying his views of Wadi Rum and of the
pastoral life of the Huweitat tribe. In 1996, he
published a book in English and French entitled "The
Dome of the Rock," featuring his photographs of the 7th
century Umayyad mosaics which adorn this holy site. The
photographs were exhibited at Darat al Funun in 2002.
Recently the recipient of a Fulbright Senior Scholar
Fellowship, Nuseibeh has been traveling throughout Bilad
al Sham, exploring the Umayyad aesthetic legacy of the
region. He currently shuttles between Amman, Damascus,
and San Francisco.
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