Bismillah Raven

Every Saturday for 12 weeks we met at the Roundhouse, beginning with the Talking Circle, introduced to us by Aaron. The Talking Circle is a communal communication process in which one’s Voice, thoughts and feelings are expressed and witnessed by the community. Its structure is literally a circle, symbolic of equality and unity. The first speaker, often the elder in the circle, begins the process by acknowledging the Creator and calling in blessings. S/he holds the Talking Stick, which is passed on to the next speaker when the person has finished. One may speak for as long as they wish with no interruption, comment or judgment. is no time clock to this meeting, just as there is no time clock to the needs of human expression. The circle became a safe space in which to share with the others anything, positive or negative, before beginning the art making. It became a site of catharsis, sharing, inspiration and learning.

​

Aaron brought us his Eagle feather to use as a Talking Stick, explaining its significance to the youth. Later on, when there was a presentation by a First Nations Artist at their school, the students were asked if they understood the Eagle Feather. To everyone’s surprise, a usually quiet, recent immigrant Afghani girl put up her hand and answered the question. The empowerment she felt that day stayed her for weeks, giving her more of a sense of place and belonging than she had previously.

​

In fact many empowering moments came from this cultural sharing. There were many similarities between our two cultures and belief systems. Aaron also shared the smudge ritual that uses the smoke from burning sage for cleansing and purifying. The youth recognized similarities between this ritual and the loban ritual. Aaron spoke about the recognition his people have to the Oneness in all Creation. We shared with him the Islamic belief in the Oneness of all things. Aaron would play his drum and sing while the youth worked. The Squamish drumbeat is a single rhythm that symbolizes the beating of the heart of All That IS. When the youth were not painting, they would do the same, using their own rhythms and songs. Soon we were jamming together, creating impromptu songs that fused the two styles together. 

 

Aaron works with the youth in his own community. He commented on the differences, saying that Vancouver Urban Native youth had no trouble expressing their individuality but had difficulty trusting and working with others. I observed that Ismaili youth had no problem collaborating and working with others but had difficulty trusting and expressing their individuality in a group. We both agreed that youth from both communities certainly had things they could learn from each other.

​

The residency took place at the time when the second Gulf War had just begun. The youth were being harassed at school for their ethnicity and faith. As the weeks passed, slowly the stories came out in the Talking Circle. And with the pain stories came Sufi poetry, inspiring quotes from the Aga Khan and supportive emails from friends in other parts of the world. These were their foundational pieces for hope, faith and courage in these trying times that eventually, informed their drum paintings. The cultural sharing and art making gave them a venue, a third space, in which to express themselves in ways that were not present in the rest of their lives. 

​

Bismillah Raven was born out of a request made of me by the youth: they wanted to give Aaron a gift in gratitude for all that he had shared with us. Design something, please, they said. And so I did. Bismillah Raven represents the coming together of two cultures, two belief systems, two ways of art making. In the Squamish tradition, Raven, a wise trickster who keeps human kind on their toes, represents the Creator. Raven is drawn abstractly in a distinct style using ovoids and colours found in the West Coast of Canada. In our traditions, Allah’s voice is represented in calligraphy formed into geometric or abstract animal shapes. The gold colour represents the tradition of creation and transformation in Sufi tradition.

 

Sherazad Jamal was born in London, England to two proud Kenyan Khoja Ismaili Muslim parents. She immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1972. She has a BA (from UBC with a major in English Literature), a Bachelor of Environmental Design and a Masters of Architecture (both from Dalhousie University). She is an interdisciplinary artist with over 25 years experience, ranging from the visual arts, architecture, creative writing, graphic design and magazine publishing to arts policy-making. She draws upon themes of cultural narrative, myth, spirituality, ritual, cultural diversity, the immigrant experience, social/gender issues and self-empowerment. Her skills rest in creatively fusing three dimensional form, conceptual thinking and story telling. As an educator, she draws upon her collaborative and community art practice experience to build an environment of trust, teamwork and openness to help youth of all ages and backgrounds express themselves. Her writing has been published in a variety of journals. Her work also includes co-designing, editing and publishing Rungh Magazine from 1991-1997. 

​

She currently works as an artisan, designing and making bags and accessories—with meaning, and natural body care products. When she is not busy tending her garden, designing a new object, dreaming up a new marketing plan or formulating a new body care product, she can be found in her studio dreaming a new dream. 

​

She can be reached at: freelionproductions@gmail.com. Her artisan store website is http://www.freelion.ca.