To Heal The World

An international online artistic reflection on mending the brokenness of our global family

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Huda Lutfi

Healing Devices in Times of Constraints and Anxiety, 2020

Mixed media; Acrylic and collage on handmade paper

18.5x13.5cm

Inspired by the mechanical designs of Ismail al-Jazari, a twelfth century Arab engineer and craftsman, this series of paper works represents an endeavor to enter zones of unvisited historical memory. While doing earlier research on medical manuscripts, I came across al-Jazari’s work, “The Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.” Here I am taking al-Jazari’s devices a step further, creating a variety of imaginary healing devices and textual formulas, which negotiate notions of inner healing and reparation. In the face of subjective states of constraints and anxiety, the actual making of these devices brings about not only emotional relief, but also an open and playful process spurred on by the surprises of experimentation. The layered color schemes and the rustic gold background of the works invoke palimpsest traces and a mode of knowledge that may inspire the present toward healing on multiple levels.