Handmade ceramic fired and glazed tiles, Magnets, steel backing board

124 x 122 cm

The Word in Action, 2015-18 consists of a number of handmade ceramic tiles containing the words of a Persian poem Bani Adam, by Saadi (ca. 1200 CE – 1291 CE) and its English translation. The poem describes how humans are connected to each other, like the limbs of a single body, outlining the importance of sharing, empathy and love. The tiles are attached with magnets and the viewer is invited to rearrange them in order to create new

Interpretations of the original poem. This could alter the meaning of the poem, but its message could also be reinforced.

There is also the possibility of a spiritual reading, acknowledging that we ought to have empathy with and love for others.  By rearranging tiles, the viewer becomes a metaphor for political change through individual action. The viewer is transformed into a participant and contributor by creating a new poem with new meaning, or by remaking the original poem. The possibility of the viewer’s physical engagement with the work allows for other interpretations, even if the physical engagement is only imagined.

Adam’s sons are body limbs, to say; For they’re created of the same clay. Should one organ be troubled by pain, Others would suffer severe strain. Thou, careless of people’s suffering, Deserve not the name, “human being”.