The Inner Reality

By Miranda Smith, *The mysticism of the whirling dervish captured* - Emirates Business 247 - UAE
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Whirling dervishes have long fascinated the world and the rapturous, contemplative dance of these Sufis at prayer are now on show in Dubai, with a new exhibition opening tonight at the Empty Quarter Gallery.

Artist Shems Friedlander has spent years recording the lives of whirling dervishes and a number of the nearly 30 pictures on display at the gallery depict a Sufi Zikr, the ceremonies performed in remembrance of God. Most date from the seventies, and feature either the Mevlevi or Halvati sects or both.
"Rumi spoke of the inner reality of everyday life; the sound of thunder, the flowers, snow, all of nature, as having a hidden meaning that lies beneath its surface. For the artist this is a process of seeing through one's inner being into a world of continuous impressions, and being present in a moment of active awareness recorded by the camera," he writes in his artist's statement.

The Mevlevi or Whirling dervishes are followers of the 13th century Persian poet and theologian Rumi. They were driven underground following the foundation of the Turkish Republic in the 1920s, re-emerged the middle of the 20th century and have since become well-known outside Turkey, their rituals now a familiar sight.

Rumi is now the most popular poet in the United States, he says, so his deeply moving work has drawn great interest in the US and around the world, but this is his first show in Dubai.

"When something gets too popular, it often becomes diluted or watered down to become more accessible," says Friedlander, "but these are documentary photographs of ceremonies that have not been adapted to or affected by tourist exposure."

Beginning at $700 (Dh 2,570), the pictures vary in size, the largest "as big as a door", Friedlander says.

A lecturer at the American University in Cairo and the author of several books on Sufism, Friedlander is a poet, painter and filmmaker.

After a major exhibition of his paintings in Cairo last year, he is now busy with a documentary on Saudi Arabia's King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, which he says should be finished by year end.

- Fragrance From the Sufi Garden by Shems Friedlander runs until May 15 at the Empty Quarter Gallery. www.theemptyquarter.com