Nokyayhat 

Curator: Welcome. Today we’re looking at “Nokyayhat,” a mixed-media piece showing influences from Islamic art, attributed to Necmeddin Okyay. What's grabbing you first? Editor: It feels like looking into a stormy night sky, those marbled swirls churning beneath a crisp layer of calligraphy. Is that intentional, this chaos held firm by language? Curator: Interesting. Necmeddin Okyay, celebrated for his calligraphy, also excelled in ebru, the art of paper marbling. It's fascinating to consider his integration of abstract patterns and geometric design, especially the use of mixed media, because we don’t really know when exactly this artwork was made. The lack of precise dating gives it this kind of timeless feel, right? Editor: Precisely! Calligraphy's inherently about structure, even devotion to established forms. Against that marbled ground, though, it's not just about faith, but about the persistence of faith across chaotic existence. That marble almost reads like neural pathways—illuminated thought within the mind of the divine, or a mortal, maybe both? Curator: Oh, I love that interpretation. Considering that the artist excelled in traditional arts, what does layering calligraphy over these chaotic patterns suggest? Is he containing the primordial, giving shape to something unfathomable? Editor: Or perhaps it's a nod to the Sufi tradition—the unveiling, taking away the layers to find unity. The calligraphy provides this concrete focus while the marble background suggests that expansive, limitless nature. Each looking for something on the background maybe? Curator: The layering as symbolic…it creates such depth, suggesting worlds within worlds, echoing those fractal patterns common in Islamic art. Thanks. You’ve made me rethink my understanding of it! Editor: Me too! I hadn't connected the medium itself—marble and text—to such rich symbolism until we started digging around in it. Wonderful artwork!