Kinships and Cosmologies (2025 - ongoing)
Kinships and Cosmologies’ (2025) Prints, drawing, painting and embroidery on mulberry paper and silk.
Approx. 10mx3.5m, and 45x55cm.
Foods traded along the silk route passing through Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khawarizm, carried more than the promise of good flavors. They were also carriers of spiritual philosophies, and the latest scientific developments. Moving back and forth between east and west, science supported the spiritual philosophy “as above, so below” (إن الأعلى من الأسفل والأسفل من الأعلى لا شك فيه), linking life on earth with the larger universe. In her work for the biennial, Hijawi takes this ancient world view as the basis for Kinships and Cosmologies. Inspired by Al-Birnui and Ulug Beg, as well as Uzbekistan’s rich histories in agriculture and trade, Hijawi invites us to a world view that extends beyond the human, and beyond earth. A map of cosmologies connecting people, plants, cities and events with the heavens.
In collaboration with Ahmad Arabov they interpret these ideas into a mural of embroidery. Both interested in reviving artistic forms and histories of the past, they re-create a contemporary interpretation of “as above, so below”’. Together with his network of embroiders from Nurato, they revive the old Zardozi style from Bukhara, as well as deities from central Asia, into a tapestry that maps the spiritual, the edible and cosmological.
Constellation Series: Pomegranate (2025-2026)
Unique prints on Japanese Kozo paper, 42 x 52cm
Based on deep research in the history of astronomy and how this science was used in farming across the Islamic worlds of the middle ages, Constellations Series is a continuation of these two traditions into the contemporary moment. Starting from an edible plant such as rice or za’tar, each piece maps out the plants’ native geographies on earth, as well as its astronomical connections in the heavens. Created in the spirit of Islamic-period book illustrations, these works are a contemporary continuation of these traditions. They recall how astronomy and astrology were applied to everything in life, giving people a larger sense of the cosmologies we live in.
Printed by Atelier KZG in Brussels.
Approx. 10mx3.5m, and 45x55cm.
Foods traded along the silk route passing through Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khawarizm, carried more than the promise of good flavors. They were also carriers of spiritual philosophies, and the latest scientific developments. Moving back and forth between east and west, science supported the spiritual philosophy “as above, so below” (إن الأعلى من الأسفل والأسفل من الأعلى لا شك فيه), linking life on earth with the larger universe. In her work for the biennial, Hijawi takes this ancient world view as the basis for Kinships and Cosmologies. Inspired by Al-Birnui and Ulug Beg, as well as Uzbekistan’s rich histories in agriculture and trade, Hijawi invites us to a world view that extends beyond the human, and beyond earth. A map of cosmologies connecting people, plants, cities and events with the heavens.
In collaboration with Ahmad Arabov they interpret these ideas into a mural of embroidery. Both interested in reviving artistic forms and histories of the past, they re-create a contemporary interpretation of “as above, so below”’. Together with his network of embroiders from Nurato, they revive the old Zardozi style from Bukhara, as well as deities from central Asia, into a tapestry that maps the spiritual, the edible and cosmological.
Constellation Series: Pomegranate (2025-2026)
Unique prints on Japanese Kozo paper, 42 x 52cm
Based on deep research in the history of astronomy and how this science was used in farming across the Islamic worlds of the middle ages, Constellations Series is a continuation of these two traditions into the contemporary moment. Starting from an edible plant such as rice or za’tar, each piece maps out the plants’ native geographies on earth, as well as its astronomical connections in the heavens. Created in the spirit of Islamic-period book illustrations, these works are a contemporary continuation of these traditions. They recall how astronomy and astrology were applied to everything in life, giving people a larger sense of the cosmologies we live in.
Printed by Atelier KZG in Brussels.