A visit to the Islamic Museum of Melbourne.

Facebook is a wonderful way of spreading art across the country, and indeed the world.  A friend in Sydney saw a post about an exhibition at the Islamic Museum of Australia, which is in Melbourne.  She shared the post and another friend and I spotted it and decided that a visit was in order.  What a wonderful find!  The museum is the first of its kind in Australia and shares with the visitor the artistic, social  and historic contribution that Muslims have made to Australia and the world.  In doing so, it also educates the visitor about the Muslim world and removes a lot of the misunderstandings that Muslims, Christians, followers of other faiths and non-believers  may have about Islam and the varying cultures it encompasses.  It is a fabulous excursion for all ages and interest groups because the staff are so wonderfully warm, welcoming and enthusiastic, the cafe serves scrumptious Islamic meals (on these wonderful mosaic tables),

the building itself is attractive and artisitic, the exhibitions are interesting, the shop is tempting, and, when it is all over, you can go for a bush stroll along the neighbouring Merri Creek.

I'm showing just a fraction of what we saw in the museum on this blog, which is focussed on the art.  There was also, for example, an exhibition  the Islamic contribution to modern civilisation, an exhibition of Islamic architecture, an exhibition explaining the faith of Islam, an exhibition of the contribution of Australian Muslims, and exhibition of Australian Muslim cameleers, and an exhibition on Abbas Ibn Fimas, the Spanish inventor of glider aviation and the modern engineers who have been inspired by him.

The art displayed was very diverse and quite intriguing.  It ranged from jewllery pieces, like this one by Seyma Yagci called "Metalised"

to colour collagraphs, like this one called "Looted" by Fatima Killeen

 

 

to mosaics and much more.

Many of the pieces on display seemed to be influenced by Muslim calligraphy, which was also displayed in some of wonderfully illustrated old books in the historical collection.  For instance, this wall hanging consisted of lots of buttons finely embroidered with Islamic calligraphy.  (Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the artist.  If anyone knows, please get in touch.)

 

Sabah Arbilli' s acrylic painting, "Bismillah", also drew on traditional calligraphy

 

 

as did Peter Gould's colourful "Ishq"

 

 

Geometric designs were another recurring motif.  some features of the building itself reflected this Islamic liking of geometry:

 

 

And, of course, there were traditional tiles:

 

 

 But the geometric motif also occured in this digital print, "Emerald Firmament" by Jamaladeen al-Burhany.

 

And, it even  occured in some of the jewllery, like this necklace, "Mother" by Seyma Yagci.

 

Check out these fabulous surfboards by Phillip Georges.  Even I would be tempted to surf if I had one of these!

Some of the art work was abstract, like this "Transnational Advocacy Space and Place:  Roles and Capitalism" by Mohamed Abumeis

and his other oil, "Swanston Street and Epping Train".

 

 

 

Some of it was very realistic, like this oil painting of "Waleed Aly" by Abdul Abdullah. 

 

In other words, there was something for all tastes and interests.  Do yourself a favour, and find out what you love about the Islamic culture most .