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Lovesong & My Father, Reflections
Lovesong is a portfolio of watercolors and poetry dedicated to the memory of her mother Najla Zurayk.
Forward:
this portfolio speaks of love
love as light and love as shadow
transparent love as well as cloudy love
for me love become sight
and sight is light
love shed its light inward
making understanding
possible
and I grew
my childhood gave me
a crystal bowl
for safekeeping
i broke the rim
it's healing
My Father. Reflections by Afaf Zurayk and photography by Noel Nasr. Published in remembrance of her father Constantine Zurayk on the 10th anniversary of his passing.
Forward:
This essay in photographs tells a very personal tale. Yet in its scope, the essay moves beyond the particular to explore an understanding of a very complex relationship of a daughter with her father. The father, Constantine Zurayk, was a historian and a leading force in contemporary Arab thought. The daughter, Afaf Zurayk, is an artist. Drawing on this most basic and formative relationship, Afaf examines visually, through images of light and shadow, the deep roots of bonding as well as the concept of time as it unfolds for a historian and for an artist. These, in their depth, tell of the power of that quest through clay figurines, sculpted by Afaf and at times
placed on her drawings, as seen through the subtle photographs of Noel Nasr. The music of Gabriel Fauré's "Requiem" and Johann Sebastian Bach's "Magnificat" is integral to the full creative experience of the artwork.
Special thanks to Mayda Freije Makdessi in the Department of Architecture and Design for her creative interpretation of both books, her high professional standards, and boundless generosity. Special thanks also to Ghada Jamal in the Department of Fine Arts and Art History for her guidance and support throughout the making of My Father. Reflections.
