Islamic Blue was the first of the designs to be completed, springing originally from my observation that Bradford is a city of many mosques. Before I moved here, I had never seen so many in one place. These buildings add a very interesting and unique dynamic to the architecture of the city that I felt needed an expression. The blue colour for this piece was chosen for two reasons: the lapis lazuli blue is often found within mosque designs across the world, but also on account of the surah in the Qu'ran entitled 'The Dawn'. Every time I read this beautiful poem, it evokes for me a powerful sense of the deep and gorgeous blue of the brightening dawn sky.

The designs for this piece came from a variety of sources: most notably the Bibi Khanum mosque in Samarkand (more famously known as The Blue Mosque) and the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, Iraq. For me, there is something incredibly contradictory in Islamic abstract design. At first glance, the work appears very still and balanced, however as the eye is drawn into the details of the decoration, suddenly one is propelled into a world of movement and assymmetry which fascinates me. I have tried to capture this paradox in this design and it seems to have worked, at least partly.

Enfolded into this design is an exploration of the roots of belief, so important to people of all religions across the world today. The Islamic prohibition against figurative art in particular led me to explore an abstract artform of which I had previously been totally ignorant. I have learned a great deal about it, but there is still much to learn. For example, judging from the designs I have worked with, Islamic culture and belief finds the numbers five, eight and twelve (looks at the star forms) very significant, yet I have no idea what these numbers represent. More research is needed therefore!