Illumination Waqf

Ahmed Mater's diptych is in the format of a page opening from an Islamic manuscript with decorated borders. But instead of verses from the Qur'an, the borders frame a torso-length human x-ray. Those familiar with Islamic art would recognize that the human figure is rarely, if ever, seen in a religious context. Yet, the artist's delicate illumination in gold and blue and the use of the word waqf (meaning "charitable donation")  on the page references traditional Islamic art and Qur'an manuscripts in particular. Mater plays with multiple meanings of the word "illumination": as the precise ornament on the painted page that adds light to God's word, as the revealing of the interior human body with x-ray technology, and as the lighting up of the soul through the words of God.