In her Sharjah exhibition, Jamal Tayara-Baroudy’s patterns evoke the Gardens of Paradise

When thinking about the concept for her exhibition that is currently showing in Sharjah’s newest art space, 1971, Jamal Tayara-Baroudy wanted to create paradise within four walls. She took inspiration from descriptions of the Gardens of Paradise in the Quran and kept the work purposely abstract.

“I am a spiritual person and the ideas of paradise and what is beyond death are fascinating to me, but it is not there in front of your eyes, you need to imagine it. In the Quran, there are some details but nothing too specific, because Allah gives us space to imagine our own utopia; with my work, I want people to feel their own Paradise.”

Garden After is an immersive installation that covers the floor and the walls of the 1971 space with a geometric pattern that Tayara-Baroudy designed.

The art consists mostly of black-and-white triangular shapes, interspersed with turquoise blue. The only object in the room is a small fountain. Sounds of birdsong are emitted from large speakers to transport the viewer into a world of water and shade.

“In the Quran, although plants such as dates, olives and fig trees are mentioned, the most common descriptions of the Gardens mention rivers and shade, so I deliberately chose blue and installed the fountain to evoke that feeling.

“I also added black and white, because then it is all about shapes and feeling rather than prescribed images.”

There are strong elements of Islamic architectural geometry woven into her patterns, which although technically classed as graphic design, are more like an artistic language that evokes an emotional response.

Walking into the space, the intensity of the pattern is quite overwhelming and it changes in scale and perspective depending on the angle that you view it from. Spend some time contemplating and you will see patterns within the patterns. The pathways of blue that snake up the centre of the floor are a representation of rivers, while the black strips that punctuate the back wall are symbolic of trees.

Up close, the abstract patterns reveal shapes such as tulips, vines, clouds and, perhaps, a smattering of rain. It is totally up to the mind’s eye to perceive what it wants, and this is the magic achieved by simply presenting pattern rather than any specific artwork.

Straddling the middle ground between graphic designer and artist is something that Tayara-Baroudy has spent a lifetime trying to master.

“The beauty of this art is that it is unified. All of this pattern came from one triangle and it has been distributed in such a way as to create new shapes and patterns within that framework,” she says.

When creating the patterns, Tayara-Baroudy also relied heavily on her childhood memories in a war-torn Lebanon.

“We didn’t have access to public gardens,” she says. “We had to wait for times of peace and then my parents would take us up to the mountains where we would play among the pine trees. For me, a garden has never been something guaranteed and that is the same as the idea of paradise – it is not something that we can take for granted, we have to strive for it.”

Downstairs, at the entrance, Tayara-Baroudy is exhibiting a few prints of prayer-carpet designs, which are part of the next project she is working on. They are inspired by the fact that these rugs are considered doors to heaven and often feature depictions of garden scenes. They act as a link between the installation upstairs and her continued practice.

• Garden After runs until September 26 at 1971 in Sharjah. For more information, visit www.maraya.ae

aseaman@thenational.ae