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Art Art & Books

Math meets mystery

MAGIC SQUARES: THE PATTERNED IMAGINATION OF MUSLIM AFRICA at the Textile Museum of Canada (55 Centre), to November 20. $15, srs $10, stu $6 pwyc Wednesday 5-8 pm. 416-599-5321. See listing Rating: NNNN


A mystical thread runs through artifacts from the Textile Museum’s extensive African collection and work by four contemporary artists. [briefbeak]

Curator Patricia Bentley focuses on magic squares, grids of numbers in which every row or column adds up to the same total. This bit of ancient math wizardry, which gave us Sudoku, came to Africa with Islam.

Numbers and Quranic writing imbued clothing with talismanic powers: a spooky hunter’s coat bristles with leather amulets containing prayers a boy’s tunic covered in writing and a girl’s cloth with V-shaped patterns gave protection during circumcision. Also included are a scroll and writing tablet employed in healing rituals.

The artists also touch on Africa, Islam and spirituality. Jamelie Hassan’s enigmatic installation Slave Letter alludes to the history of slavery in Muslim lands through objects that an illiterate slave could have sent as a message and the image of a nude African woman from the label of Bint el Sudan perfume, a popular fragrance in the Middle East.

In Mary’s Permeating Sign, Tim Whiten pays moving tribute to his mother through her rolling pin, a cartoon emblem of feminine anger. He’s reproduced the beautiful tool, which his father made for his mother, in clear glass decorated with a grid of numbers significant in her life. Placed on a lacy bed pillow, it’s a potent symbol of a woman’s role in an African American family.

Hamid Kachmar updates the visual language of his Moroccan Berber heritage in a series of small square paintings on goatskin with geometric patterns and rune-like writing, which Bentley pairs with Tuareg leather work.

Alia Toor’s grid of paper masks embroidered with the names of Allah conjures our fears of terrorism and the SARS epidemic.

Writing, numbers and symbols link the textiles and artwork, enhancing our appreciation of both. I’d love to see more shows where contemporary artists bounce off the museum’s collection.

art@nowtoronto.com

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