51

Concept: This special painting to remember the 51 Martyrs of the Christchurch mosques attack was created to spread the message of Love, Peace and Unity across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. We created it to mark the 2nd anniversary of the Christchurch mosques attacks and to remember the 51 Martyrs who lost their lives. Some of our art pieces were displayed at Wellington Museum for the ‘Pretentious but not expensive’ exhibition.

Ten different languages (English, Māori, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Fijian, Somali, Malay, Malayalam and Dari) have been used to write love, peace and unity on the map. These languages also represent the 51 martyrs’ country of origin. Their names are depicted in Arabic calligraphy (Al-Sunbali script), and the New Zealand map is in blue, white and red to evoke the New Zealand flag. The colours and patterned style of background script are inspired by ‘Kiswah’, which is the covering of Kaaba. We used Māori kupu (words) to honour the support Māoris have been to the Muslim community since 15 March 2019.

Background: Our work is trying to create a visual language around the events of 15th of March and this work started almost as soon as the tragedy happened. I designed the Christchurch incident reports for the Federation of Islamic Association of New Zealand and then went on to work with Ruth Robertson-Taylor in developing the ‘weaving hope’ installation in civic square. This mural was created to commemorate the first anniversary of Christchurch mosques attacks. I also contributed kufi style script in English and Maori for the project. I became very interested in how a country represents its communal stories in public. I also saw the power of collaboration.

New Zealand Police Museum

Couple host their first Islamic art exhibition

Eid Mubarak’ is the first stamp issued by New Zealand Post to recognise New Zealand’s Muslim communities and the fasting month of Ramadan.

We feel very blessed, proud and honoured to have been part of the design team on this historic project. This not only celebrates Eid al-Fitr, the world’s most popular Muslim festival, but acknowledges Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse communities. We used fresh and vibrant colours — gold, green, blue, purple and turquoise— in these stamps to reflect happiness, caring and sharing love.

In Islamic Art, different colours have different meanings: gold is the symbol of prosperity and success, which are stepping stones toward happiness;Green is a symbol of nature and life and it represents love, hope, peace, harmony, respect, and a sense of self-confidence;blue often signifies skylight and the impenetrable depths of the universe; Purple represents spirituality and Ramadan is a time of year associated with spirituality.

Arabic text on each stamp is the same words; Eid Mubarak, which means Happy Eid or Eid Greetings.

We used a combination of modern and traditional calligraphy styles for these stamps, including scripts in Thuluth, Dewani, Al-Wissam and Freestyle.

“Eid Mubarak” stamps in the media

This wall mural was a collaboration with local artist Ruth Robertson-Taylor to remember the martyrs of Christchurch mosques attacks We contributed to the design concept and the Kufic script in the mural. . Weaving Hope tells the story of loss and hope, acknowledges the grief over the tragedy that happened in Christchurch on 15 March 2019, and presents a vision and hope for a more unified, accepting and diverse Aotearoa. This work was co-created with the Muslim Students Association (VicMuslim), the International Muslim Association of New Zealand’s Committee, members of the Kilbirnie mosque community, and Vodafone New Zealand’s Muslim Society (Salam Network).

“Weaving Hope” in the media

Vodafone Foundation
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