A RETROSPECTIVE Peter Gould (Oct – Dec 2009)
Considering the true essence of Islamic art or architecture can never involve simply defining any one particular period or style and although the arts of ‘Islam’ is seemingly instantaneously recognisable the scope and depth of this term is yet to be fully understood. Peter’s ability to capture with simplicity the intricacy of these beautiful and complicated works of art which have for the most part saturated the skylines wherever Muslims have resided, shares with us the soulful and deliberate expression of dhikr (Remembrance and praising of God) that marks the work of the Muslim artisan. The manifestation of this dhikr through such contemporary mediums as photography and graphic design is a natural consequence of our immediate environment and our earnest attempt as living creatures to manifest our spiritual place in the here and now.
Peter’s photography is as much about the spiritual as it is about the visual, offering no questions or answers but rather affording the viewer to simply being in that moment and that moment at first glance seems to curiously exist without time or consequence. This is the true beauty of Peter’s work where there is a present quietness about it that shares the essence of purpose of the art and architecture of the past through contemporary mediums, one of the quintessential markers of the true Muslim artist. [Nur Skhembi, Officer for the Arts, ICV]
