In this exhibition we present three different, yet intersecting expressions of Islamic art. We feature original work by researcher and artist Dr Sara Choudhrey alongside works on paper from The William Morris Society’s collection and objects from The Emery Walker Trust collection.

Islamic art is an all-encompassing term, often used to describe historical examples of art and artefacts, and even architecture, related to the Islamic world. In many cases these were produced in parts of the world where Islam was or is the dominant faith. Islamic art spanned many centuries and continues to this day in all parts of the world. Places such as Turkey, Spain, Morocco, Syria and Pakistan still hold wondrous examples of historical sites, monuments and working mosques covered in beautiful patterns. The long and continuing history of Islamic artistic output has led to wider cultural influence, including upon the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The word ‘Islamic’ relates to the Islamic faith. Alongside the spread of the Islamic faith, there developed a visual culture associated with the people and places it touched. The three main elements that make up this visual culture are decorative geometry, floral motifs and Arabic calligraphy. The latter two are based on the former, as geometry connects to the natural world, the underlying order and language of the universe attributed to Divine creation.

By exploring the collections and archives at The William Morris Society and The Emery Walker House, artist/researcher Dr Sara Choudhrey demonstrates how these three elements were also present in the works produced by William Morris and his contemporaries. Her research provides an insight into the admiration that Morris and his associates had for artefacts from the Islamic world, and where they would have encountered them through their travels and viewing exhibitions.

Alongside these collections we present artworks by Dr Sara Choudhrey, who has in turn been influenced by not just Islamic art, but also the geometric and floral elements depicted in the work of William Morris. The presence of contemporary Islamic art alongside these collections demonstrates a cyclical continuity of influence, where no single region nor timeline dictates engagement with Islamic visual culture. This is a theme of ongoing interest to Sara, who is concerned with the use of pattern as a means of exploring perceptions of space, engagement with man-made and natural spaces and the idea of belonging and identifying with a place. Sara explores these themes through colour studies focussing on individual motifs from the Turkish Iznik design tradition and complex geometric compositions referencing surface design found in site-specific locations such as those in Spain.

This exhibition therefore brings together the collections as an interconnected and evolving whole.