Halah Khan

Love letter III

Halah Khan

Love letter III

Date

2021

Edition Size

unique

Media

Embroidery, Ink, Textile

Format

Artist Book

Dimensions

9.5 × 6.5 × 1 in

Pages

6

$ 3,800.00

Unavailable


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Bainbridge Island Museum of Art

Love letter III, is an exquisite book, with golden embroidered Arabic lettering (the language is Urdu) shining through a vertical matrix of coded stitches on a typical ‘Halah Khanish’ painted landscape of blood. The completely integrated eloquence of the book’s structure, embroidered calligraphy, painting, and poetry is so perfect it seems appropriate to see the work as reminiscent of the continuum of the accomplishments of the books of the Timurid dynasty era in the cultural center of Herat, Afghanistan.

Text within the book:

اس سے گہرا رنگ لاؤ۔۔۔
Bring a deeper color than this

اُس کی کاغذی انگشت سے اُگتا ہے وہ سبزہ
A verdure grows from her papery fingertips

جس کی خوشبو ُمعَطر کرتی ہے میرے خوابوں کو
The scent of which enchants my dreams

بہت معصوم سی نازک سی دھوپ میں
Within a soft, innocent sunshine

اُس کی مسکراہٹ کی شبنم چمک رہی ہے
The morning dew of her smile is shining through

چاند جیسا نام ہے اُس کا
Her name is like the moon

چاندنی سی نرمی
Her softness like moonlight

وہ بھی وہیں ہے
She’s there as well

میں صدیوں سے گُم ہوں جہاں
Where I have been lost for centuries

وقت کی رفتار سے آگے
Beyond the speed of light

وجود و عدم کی قید سے آزاد۔۔۔
Free from the constraints of existence and non-existence.