Her Rays
65 x 250 cm, silk and cotton fabrics hand dyed with sumac berries, silk dyed with iron bath, cotton thread, wooden dowel.
Her Rays and Sukun represent the sun and the moon. Powerful symbols throughout history, the sun and zodiac feature prominently in the mosaic frieze which Walter Crane designed for the Arab Hall. Here, Hage has captured the sun and moon through colour and texture. In Her Rays golden brown silk and cotton braids hang down representing the sun’s rays. In contrast in Sukun, the moon’s cool serenity and calm is reflected in pale grey and purple tones. This piece was woven on a circular loom in a technique crafted by the artist and is surrounded by braids. In West Asian culture braids are believed to lock in the evil eye and bad energy.
The colours of the pieces were also informed by a calligraphic tile panel on the staircase at Leighton House. The panel includes the first two verses of a poem attributed to Sheikh Muhammad Jamal ud-Din al-Makki al Amili, a fourteenth century scholar and poet from Jezzine, Hage’s hometown in Lebanon. This connection inspired her to dye the fabric using sumac berries gathered from Jezzine. These created the darker brown hues for Her Rays. The fabrics were then further soaked in an iron bath, made from rusty nails found in the artist’s new home in Dubai, to achieve the cool greyish purple tones for Sukun. Thus, uniting the artist’s hometown and current home within the artwork.