"The conference of the birds" series - 01 Painting

This artwork is inspired by the poem The Conference of the Birds. A 12th-century mystical epic written by the Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar. In this series, I was inspired by the 7 valleys described in the poem: the valley of search, the valley of love, the valley of knowledge, the valley of detachment, the valley of unification, the valley of wonder and finally the valley of privation and annihilation. This poem is an allegory, in which the search for symbolism represents the search for divine perfection. In the poem, the birds of the world gather to decide who will be their king, as they have none. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should find the legendary Simorgh. The hoopoe leads the birds, each of whom represents a human fault which prevents humankind from attaining enlightenment. The birds must cross seven valleys before reaching the Simurgh. These valleys symbolize the stages that a Sufi must cross to draw the true nature of God. During the journey, lots of birds die. Finally, the thirty remaining birds approach the place where the Simurgh lives. All they see is their own reflected image like in a mirror. In the end, the birds learn that they themselves are the Simorgh; the name “Simorgh” in Persian means thirty (si) birds (morgh). They eventually come to understand that the majesty of that Beloved is like the sun that can be seen reflected in a mirror. Yet, whoever looks into that mirror will also behold his or her own image. The choice of birds as protagonists is not casual; they represent the terrestrial animal that can rise up to the sky, as the man’s soul is able to rise from the Earth towards the divine. -----------------------