After the Storm : Artwork 4

The Arabic oral tradition is the oldest continuous literary tradition in the world, and its proverbs are among its most durable products — verified not by a named author but by the fact that they have survived centuries of repetition because they remain true. أول الشجرة بذرة has no source to cite because the Arab world is its source, every generation passing it forward because the observation holds. A tree begins with a seed: something enormous was once something tiny, and no amount of contemplation of the fully-grown tree tells you anything about the moment the seed decided to split. The Islamic architectural tradition that developed alongside this oral wisdom tradition understood the same principle materially — the great mosques of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Ottoman empires all began with a single act of foundation, a stone set with intention. The geometric craft tradition that decorated them was built the same way: pattern by patient pattern. For a living room or dining room where the tone of the space is long-view rather than urgent.