Islamic Design

The longer I am here the more I love the design and art which is favoured here - think Moroccan and Turkish. Since realistic representation of figures are not allowed under Islam, very little of the ancient and modern art from this region has animals or people. Instead it is based on patterns involving both organic and geometric shapes. Islamic Pattern is based on the idea that what we see is always and only part of a whole that extends to infinity. We could learn something from this culture for its acute awareness of eternity (the whole we can't see) which permeates daily life(the parts we can see). Here are some fragments of some of my favourite artwork at the MIA - Museum of Islamic art, some dating back thousands of years.