Karen Villegas' Art Blog

Embroidery (Grace)

March 12th, 2012

I chose to create a piece that brought together the traditional geometry of Islamic art, and the figural representation of a mythical character. The peacock is associated with Paradise, yet has both negative and positive aspects to its story. Created from the nur Muhammad and placed at the gates of Paradise, the peacock is believed to be the most pious of birds. However, it is also associated with Iblis and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden. According to myth, the peacock was approached by Iblis as he attempted to enter the garden, but denied him entrance. When Iblis finally made his way in and tempted Eve, Allah expelled them all, with the peacock being held as an accomplice. It is said that in punishment the snake lost her legs, and the peacock lost his beautiful voice.

Although not directly inspired by any of the readings for this course (the idea did come from lecture), I have always been interested in myths of origin, and found it interesting to see how this particular one was tied into a monotheistic religion. In researching the symbolism of the peacock in Islam I came across A Song of Muhammad by M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, in which he describes how Allah shaped nur Muhammad in the form of the peacock.  Faced with the grace of Allah, the peacock began to sweat, with each bead becoming a different part of the world. In embroidering this, I tried to make the peacock as simple as possible, while still hinting at the bird’s potential: The five colors of its figure represent the five elements, as described by Muhaiyaddeen (water, fire, air, earth, and gold), with the tail shaped to reinforce this idea.

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