Volumetric Portrait: Sujood [Original]

Sujood (Prostration)

Collaboration with Lisa Niedermeyer and Fatima Zaidi

Printed canvas of volumetric portrait made with 3D scanner. Arabic verse hand stitched with golden silk thread.

Dimensions: 33” x 24” x 1.5"

Muslim literally translates to “one who submits.” The hand stitched Arabic is Qu’ran verse 13:15: “To Allah bow down all those in the heavens and the earth—willingly or unwillingly—as do their shadows, morning and evening.” Ar’Ra’d (The Thunder)

From Lisa: 

Take time with this piece, find the knees and elbows to orient the forehead, nose, palms and toes touching the ground. Imagine yourself inside this shape, breathing in this prostration, tapping into an internal and infinite focus. Allow yourself any multi-layered meanings of your own understanding of submitting.

From Fatima: 

My religious trauma often prevents me from connecting with the feelings when my body makes this pose. At the same time I have reverence for the physical laws decreed. I submit to the nature of circumstances established by the creator of existence. Seeing patterns is a truth I cannot deny.

I've cried in desperation and elation 

in this pose. 

I’ve felt small 

in this pose.

I’ve felt the universe within myself 

in this pose. 

It was just me and my creator

in this pose. 

I felt at ease 

in this pose 

This is Islam to me 

in this pose 

one who submits because it brings about 

a wholeness, 

a safety, 

and peace.