Art and the Interconnectedness of All Things
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Todd Lawson, Art and the Interconnectedness of All Things, bahai-library.com.
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14                                                                                                   ukBahá’í           THE ARTS

the arts

Art and the
interconnectedness
of all things
In Oxford, the bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb
was celebrated at a special event with exhibition held
at Wolfson College on 3 November 2019

T
HE GATHERING featured presentations                     an Arabic word meaning gate or door—spoke a new music
by a number of Bahá’ís who shared insights              to His society in mid-19th century Iran. So startling was
from their various creative practices. By way           His rendition of the familiar sources of Islamic religion, the
of an introduction and welcome to the event,            Qur’án and the sacred words of Islam’s holy teachers, that He
Canadian scholar Todd Lawson sent some                  was eventually put to death by firing squad at the young age
introductory thoughts on the Báb as “artist”:                            of 32 in 1850. He had insisted that the world was now at a
“To isolate the spiritual from art is a bit like trying to isolate   point in which the deepest spiritual teachings of Islám cried
the wet from water. The essentially metaphorical processes               out to burst beyond their typically circumscribed and, in the
of art—whether plastic, graphic, literary, architectural, or             context of the burgeoning globalization of the time, frankly
musical—isolates and privileges the spiritual quality of all             parochial cultural home to enrich the life of humanity as a
artistic expression and practice. More than anything, what we            whole. Through rewriting the Qur’án, a bold and audacious
call today “art” circumscribes an activity that seeks somehow            artistic gesture, the Báb attracted the admiration and devotion
to capture and even analyze a feeling or response to the world           of thousands of His fellow Iranians who likewise felt the same
that would remain otherwise ineffable or unmarked. Art                   inevitable transformations stirring in their souls. It has been
speaks a truth that cannot be spoken another way. In art there           said: “When the mode of the music changes, the walls of the
is a great reverence for the luminous interconnectedness                 city shake.” Nothing could be truer of the response of Iran
of “deep down things” that mirrors, illumines and echoes                 to the new call of the Báb, Whose insistence upon the nonthe most profound mystical experiences of the prophets,                  negotiable unity of humanity, of the interconnectedness of
messengers, teachers and gurus of what we call “religion”.               cosmic processes with the life of the soul, and the oneness of
The works presented here today are stunningly beautiful              the divine source of imagination, creation and being was both
examples of both the work of the individual artists and the              His greatest message and His death warrant.
vibrant, ceaselessly-changing and generative connectedness                   The Báb was, in His role as prophet, a highly
among the arts, art and the artists. This is symbolic of the             accomplished artist, though He may not have used such
occasion: to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of             a term to identify Himself. The calligraphic flaming star
One whom Bahá’ís believe will one day be recognized by the               exquisitely demonstrates His mastery of His materials, His
world as having wrought profound change in the spiritual life            powerful creative imagination and His unremitting desire
of the planet.                                                           to demonstrate the quite sacred interconnectedness of all
‘Alí-Muhammad Shirází, known to history as the Báb—                  things. Simultaneously cool and hot, near and far, this star is
symbolic of the human being through whom the forces of life
15                                                                                          ukBahá’í            THE ARTS

and art combine to create                                                                        Colour, story and above
consciousness. It is one of                                                                      all, time and, its offspring
several similar calligraphic                                                                     history, become tamed
works produced by the                                                                            through artistic expression,
Báb during His short life.                                                                       whether musical, literary,
It is constituted largely of                                                                     sculptural, pictorial or
quotations from the Qur’án                                                                       graphic.
extolling the power of God                                                                           Out of the apparent chaos
and the imminence of a new                                                                       — or at least bafflement — of
cycle of life for the world. It                                                                  being in the world the artist
promises hope for the future                                                                     perceives and experiences
in a voice that Islam had                                                                        harmony, unity, resolution,
not previously heard and                                                                         meaning and hope. The
may be thought to mark the                                                                       artist communicates this
beginning of a specifically                                                                      perception, this feeling, to
Iranian     modernism       in                                                                   the world, and the world is
addition to its unmistakably universal song of hope.          enriched, emboldened, heartened, given life. The strange and
We are all deeply honored to be able to join together     undeniable experience of sensing music in art, art in literature
here on this occasion to celebrate through our own art His    and literature in all artistic expression, as if art itself creates
unquenchable luminosity and His veneration of the artistic    and speaks its own language, maintains our attraction to and,
vocation as a mode of truth-telling and revelation.           in fact, dependence upon art. There is a kinship that flows
Rhythm, harmony, melody, form and space are               through it all and the kinship is essentially spiritual.” TL
experienced in a heightened way through what we call “art”.

Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being,
and are conducive to its exaltation. Knowledge is as
wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its
acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge
of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can
profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin
with words and end with words...
– Bahá'u'lláh
-- Art and the Interconnectedness of All Things (Used by permission of the curator)