“Be swift in the path of holiness, and enter the heaven of communion with Me. Cleanse thy heart with the burnish of the spirit, and hasten to the court of the Most High.” –Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Persian
What does it look like – this path of holiness?
What does it feel like – this burnish of the spirit?
What does it sound like – the court of the Most High?
I hear its melody in the flute and its back beat in the soul drum.
“…the ages of darkness have passed away, and the century of light has come. Ignorant prejudices are being dispelled, and the light of unity is shining. The differences existing between nations and peoples will soon be annulled, and the fundamentals of the divine religions, which are no other than the oneness and solidarity of the human race, are being established.”
-Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
My contribution to Nineteen Months, for more inspiration read and see the contributions to KALIMAT
I decided to renew the Be Illumined Blog during the Bicentenary of the Bab, to share interesting projects Baha’i Creatives around the world, as well as in Brisbane are doing to celebrate this year.
A recent project I heard about and am now taking part in, is a collaborative photo project with Nancy Wong. This project is a creative transformative response to the execution of the Bab, which happened back in 1850 in Tabriz, Iran.
Nancy has invited photographers from around the world to take photos to be part of a collage art piece that will be on display at the art exhibit of the 2019 Art In Response to Violence (ARV) conference at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This year will be the ARV’s 10th anniversary and the conference will take place October 17-18, 2019.
Each participating photographer is sending her several portraits of people holding a lit candle. No faces will be shown, just the person’s hand(s).
She wrote to us all, “It will also be an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Birth of the Bab (October 29, 2019) by using this project as a talking piece, during the production of the images, as well as when we exhibit the final artwork. As of today, I am thinking of calling this art piece, “750 Shots”. (750 bullets; 750 photos.)
This number is reportedly the number of rifles that were aimed at the Bab. And, as shared before, the candles are in memory of the time when the Bab was incarcerated in the city of Maku; he was not given a lamp during the long nights in prison.”
I will be interviewing Nancy to share more about the progress of the collaborative art piece on future blogs.
The collaborative aspect of Nancy’s project was so inspiring and moving, that it encouraged me to think of something like this in my own local community. I have an idea (quite different theme but with the same capacity for participation from others) brewing and will share it soon! And I am pleased to have found some collaborators for it!
If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectlty acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness and creativity - Eckhart Tolle
