The three letters of the word are abstracted into equal circles, mirrored by the three dots of the ش. The curve of the final ق is stretched into an egg shape evoking the pregnancy of longing, with a gold “potentiality”. Longing (شوق) is a firey ache in the heart, hence the crimson hue.
Longing شوق
“The world is full of beautiful things until an old man with a beard came into my life and set my heart aflame with longing and made it pregnant with love. How can I look at the loveliness around me, how can I see it, if it hides the face of my Lover?”
— Persian song
Watercolor, metal leaf on Cotman paper 300gsm. 50x50 cm.