Qabd means “contraction”, “constriction”, “closing”. In Sufism, this describes a diminution of self by withdrawing from the surface personality towards the inner; it is experienced as feelings of constriction, blockage and sadness.
I expressed the contraction by working with a small mass of black in the centre of a lot of white; the dots are strips of gold paper squeezed between and out of the black squares. Seeing them properly requires a change of perspective: one can then see that contraction, while uncomfortable, forces out our hidden gold.
Creation process:
