Laura Merrell
A&E Editor
This Wednesday a screening of Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World will be held in Lean Lecture Room in Wishart Hall, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Assistant Professor of Art History Kara Morrow will give a talk before the film screening and lead a discussion afterward. This is the second of three events that showcase the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys Grant that the College received in 2013.
The film is a 2011 documentary directed by Robert Gardner. Actress Susan Sarandon lends her voice for the narration of the piece. The trailer of the film promises to examine the true legacy of Islamic culture by looking at the history of Islamic art and architecture. According to the official website for the film, the audience is taken on “an epic journey across nine countries and over 1400 years of history.”
Art, the focus of the film, is examined from a variety of perspectives from large monuments and mosques to the smaller scale of ornate paintings and carved chests. There is an emphasis on the unique features of the Islamic creative tradition, including how language becomes art through calligraphy using many materials, even water.
Morrow hopes that “people will come away with an understanding of the complexity and eloquence of Islamic art and architecture. I will be giving a very brief introduction to the film that I hope will problematize the place of Islamic art on the world stage for the audience, considering the film and the objects it explores within the current context of political strife and cultural conflict.”
The College of Wooster Libraries received the grant that made the event possible from the National Endowment for the Humanities and American Library Association Public Programs Office and Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University. To bring this grant to campus, the College Libraries collaborated with the Religious Studies Department, the Center for Diversity and Global Engagement and the Office of Interfaith Campus Ministries.
Julia Gustafson, Research & Outreach Librarian at the College, is very pleased that Wooster received the grant: “With the College’s emphasis on diversity, global learning, and religious perspectives, the grant is truly a good fit for Wooster. Our statewide connections with OhioLINK enable us to circulate the grant materials throughout the state easily”.
Through the grant, the College received 25 books and four films to add to the Libraries’ collections and the Oxford Islamic Studies Online database. Three events were planned to showcase the new materials. The first was a talk given by Professor Sarah Mirza last spring on the book A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence from the Middle East to America.
The second event is the film screening, talk and discussion next Wednesday and the last event is later this month on Tues., Nov. 19. Prince Among Slaves will be screened and a talk and discussion will be given by Professor Ibra Sene from the History Department.
Both film screenings are associated with this year’s forum and provide an interesting glimpse into non-Western culture. The film screenings are free and open to the public and guests are encouraged to remain after for discussion.