Anissa Berkane. Dhikr Pictural

About

Preface: 

Strange times are those in which we live.

We have unlimited access to knowledge and information, yet we reject the luxury of taking time to appreciate and understand, sit back and take in, before we carry on and move forward.

However we are facing times where everything runs fast. Everyone is racing at speedy pace and many finish dead last. We microwave, we swallow and we get indigestion from realities that have become more and more biased, corrupted and faked from their context and source. Thus, even if our minds are plural and diverse, they are turned to one-sided view, turned to the worship precepts of some Consumerist-Capitalist-Careless Religion.  

We live in times of propaganda, where the association of words like «Islam = Extremism = Terrorism = Danger = Disaster» has become too often used as shortcut to ready-made theories. This was the starting point for Anissa Berkane, who dedicated her art to instil a more positive reading of the Book. 

Why Dhikr?

Dhikr Pictural inspires to reconnect truthfully with the Self and look beyond the unknown, to eventually reach out to what is Divine. Moreover, this exhibition is an invitation to all senses and different audiences; whether art-lovers, rationale-geeks or spiritually-curious, it leaves no one indifferent as highlighted through ornamental executions, numerical mysteries or metaphysical implications, each of the 19 pieces is very unique, yet indissociable from the rest. The artist took 20 years to bring this project to life, so take your time in enjoying it. 

Throughout a five-week exhibition, Dhikr Pictural will be hosting a rich programme of events that marks a series of season celebrations: Mawlid Ennabawi (Birth of Prophet Mohammed), World Arabic Language Day, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.