I like to call this piece “single origin” because it is made with six earth pigments all gathered in the same place, on the same day, in the mountains of Lebanon. The piece was inspired by this bountiful palette, and the word is barr, which denotes the land, the earth, the wilderness, its adjective barri meaning untamed, feral, wild; at the same time, the same word pronounced birr means great love, devotion and reverence.
The style is Eastern Kufic, chosen for the striking geometry it allowed to unfold around this simple word. Uncharacteristically, I had to construct the full pattern before writing it with a pen, because the interplay of angles was so complex and unforgiving.
Creation process:
