White Vase

Contemporary painter and potter Khaled Ben Slimane is a global artist, integrating his Tunisian background and Sufi beliefs with techniques of calligraphy and glazing that he learned in Japan. In this vase, the inscriptions appear to pop out from the surface. It is as if Slimane made his calligraphy dance, whirling like Sufi mystics. One short word repeated in several sizes is Huwa, or “He.” It is how Sufi mystics refer to God in their recursive, entrancing chants. The longer calligraphy reads as Yalatif, derived from al-Latif, which means The Kind, The Gracious, The Most Subtle. It is one of the 99 Beautiful Names that Muslims have for God. Interpretation of text: He [often repeated] The Most Subtle