At The King’s Foundation, School of Traditional Arts, London, the exhibition ‘From Darkness to Light, From Light to Darkness’ (2 -21 October 2026) features the work of 23 current research students and alumni, with themes from Christian, Hindu and Muslim traditions. The Muslim contributors include maestros like Nassar Mansour, whose calligraphy ‘Huwa’ in the Muhaqqaq script is an outstanding exhibit. The strong Pakistan-based artistic heritage is conveyed in the works of Zahra Hassan; Seher Shah, calligrapher and a historian of calligraphy; Veeda Ahmed, who completed a practice-based PhD thesis,’Drawing on Tradition’ at the King’s Foundation. Among these craftswomen is also the up and coming Halima Bashir, a 2nd year PhD student with an interest in West African Islamic Art.
Genuine gold on black canvas by Nassar Mansour – inspired by the Light Verse in the Qur’an (24:35). Nassar Mansour is currently Professor of Islamic Calligraphy and Qur’anic manuscripts at the World Islamic Sciences and Education University, Amman.
A view of two exhibits by Seher Shah, Black ink on paper. Seher Shah’s doctoral work is on a Practice-as-Research Inquiry into the Making of a Master Calligrapher.
One of Halima Bashir’s two exhibits is a ‘Spiral Salawat’ in Walnut ink on sized handmade paper, based on a Tijani sufi invocation. Halima is researching allo boards made in clay and wood, for madrassa use and which combined calligraphy with geometric ornamentation.
A Christian theme – but with an Islamic resonance – is conveyed in Christabel Anderson’s The Last Supper,
The work has been prepared using Egg tempera, natural pigment and 24ct gold leaf on 100% watercolour paper. It brings to mind the verses in Al-Maida, 5:112-113
Behold! the disciples said, “O Jesus the son of Mary! Can thy Lord send down to us a table set (with viands) from heaven?” Said Jesus: Fear God, if ye have faith.” They said: “We only wish to eat thereof and satisfy our hearts, and to know that thou has indeed told us the truth; and that we ourselves may be witnesses to the miracle.”
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Also in London at the V&A East is Shahed Saleem’s I was born here. The London-based architect-historian-versatile artisan has the distinction of being one of the first artists commissioned for New Work, V&A East’s six-month rotating commission programme, on show from 3-18 October. It connects the history of the Iberian Peninsula with London’s diversity today – and the forces that opposed plurality then, and now.
The connection with the former is the Torrijos Ceiling installed above Gallery 3 at V&A East Storehouse. This dates from the fifteenth century and is a stunning example of carpentry merging Islamic and Gothic-era motifs. Shahed Saleem’s works in textile looks at “state power, migration, racism and the everyday creativity of East London’s migrant communities and asks how the bordering processes seen on streets today relate to earlier forms of violent state action, including those that shaped the creation of the modern Spanish nation at the end of the fifteenth century.”
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