Samina S

The artist in this panting believes that the mishkat (lantern) is a similitude of the Divine. This similitude is depicted by this medieval glass lamp meant to protect a flame. The work as a whole sees the Divine as a source of light, as spirituality, and is meant to signify humanity’s timeless quest for the Divine.

The Quran reminds us that the Creator is the light of the heavens and earth. It is through His bestowed physical light that we perceive His remarkable Creation, and through His conferred light of intellect that we ponder it. The artist here depicts a mishkat (lantern) to express this belief in artistic form.