Object Details
Artist
Hakim Karimzada
Date
2023
Medium
Ink and acrylic color on paper
Dimensions
Image / sheet: 29 7/8 × 23 13/16 inches (75.9 × 60.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the Jarett F. Wait, Class of 1980, and Younghee Kim-Wait Endowment for Contemporary Islamic and Middle Eastern Arts
Object
Number
2025.001.001
This piece contains calligraphy featuring Thuluth and Nilofar scripts. The poem, penned by the Herat(…)
This piece contains calligraphy featuring Thuluth and Nilofar scripts. The poem, penned by the Herati poet Ehsan Pakzad (born 1971), who fled Afghanistan in 2021 and currently lives in Canada, eloquently captures the pain of separation from his country. In this poem he wanted to express that nothing in exile brings him joy, and even tea without the presence of his loved ones is bitter, like the bitter taste of life away from home. There is a depth of emotion and longing within each stroke of this evocative composition. By writing the first line of the poem larger on the left side of the piece, the artist emphasizes his deep emotions about the pain of being far from home.
(Sharifa “Elja” Sharifi, “Hakim Karimzada: Herat and Me,” exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, presented at the Johnson Museum June 6–September 15, 2024)
