Sound & Silence

Sound & Silence

Soraya Syed - Art of the Pen

This immersive and interactive exhibition explores the practice of Arabic calligraphy as an artform spanning the spiritual and material, the visual and the verbal. 

In Sound & Silence, internationally renowned calligrapher Soraya Syed dives into the essence of her practice: the geometry of Arabic letters and their connection to the human form. 

Through a display of photographic images and a series of artworks and sculptures, Syed draws an unprecedented connection between the human body in contortion and calligraphic form. Her sculptures are formed from white Carrara marble dust from the same quarries that provided Michelangelo his single block of stone for the Pieta.  White Carrara marble dust is a basic ingredient of the ink Syed uses - an innovative formula specially blended by artist and ink-maker Jason Logan. 

Sound & Silence also presents a mesmerising installation with magnetite ink suspended in water, inviting you as the audience to pick up a magnet and move it around creating calligraphic-like shapes that throw shadows, allowing the visitor to become the artist. 

A magisterial calligraphic monolith is the exhibition centrepiece, with light and projection changing the space within a soundscape of natural frequencies that induce a sense of serenity and connection.

To coincide with her show, Soraya is delivering two hands-on Arabic Calligraphy Workshops on 23rd and 24th June at Cromwell Place. Enjoy these hands on sessions with artist and calligrapher Soraya Syed in the delightful surrounds of Cromwell Place.

SOUND AND SILENCE: EXHIBITION TALK

SORAYA SYED IN CONVERSATION WITH SUSSAN BABAIE

Artist Soraya Syed will discuss her new body of work in the exhibition Sound & Silence at The Coronet Theatre with Sussan Babaie. The talk explores the evolution of her practice and what drives her to deploy every capacity in her body and soul to inhabit, embody, and surface for the viewer the inherent complexities of the experience of writing as it navigates between sound and silence, between movement and meaning.

Get your tickets for the talk here.

Speaker Profiles

London-based Soraya Syed is a classically trained calligrapher and artist dedicated to bringing the ancient art of Arabic calligraphy into the 21st century through film, dance, VR, and three-dimensional sculptures. Her pioneering work has been exhibited across Europe and the Middle East and is prized by collectors worldwide.

Sussan Babaie is Professor of Islamic and Iranian Arts at The Courtauld Institute of Art.

Created by Soraya Syed.
Executively produced by Trajectory Theatre.
Commissioned by Shubbak Festival.