Beyond Words - The Heart of Connection
Category: Original Artwork
Calligrapher: SaBa
Illumination (Tazhib): Narvan
Poet: Rumi (1207-1273)
Poem: Empathy is better than speaking the same language. (To be one in heart is better than to be one in tongue.)
Year: 2023
Size: 18" × 26" (45.72 cm × 66.04 cm)
Materials: Handmade Italian 100% cotton paper, Rohrers Antiktusche ink, reed pens crafted from the natural reeds of northern Iran.
Technique: Persian calligraphy- Siyah-Mashq, Nastaʿlīq
Passe-partouts: Handcrafted, using the traditional starch-pressing technique for lasting quality and authenticity.
Price: Available on inquiry
Certificate of Authenticity: Each piece comes with a signed Certificate of Authenticity for provenance.
This line is taken from the Masnavi-ye Ma’navi, Book One, from Rumi’s story of the Hoopoe and Solomon. A few verses before and after this line are as follows:
-
To speak the same tongue is a kinship and affinity;
a man surrounded by others who cannot confide, is like a prisoner in chains. -
Oh, many Indians and Turks that speak the same tongue;
Oh, many pairs of Turks are strangers to each other. -
Therefore the tongue of mutual understanding is different indeed:
to be one in heart is better than to be one in tongue. -
Without speech and without sign or scroll,
hundreds of thousands of interpreters arise from the heart.
In this verse, Rumi emphasizes the essence of human connection through the heart, a language beyond words, spoken not by the tongue but felt by the heart.
In my works, the point, a fundamental element of visual art, serves as both a visual foundation and philosophical anchor. In this piece, it becomes the heart: a silent yet essential force, radiating its influence across the entire composition.
Just as Rumi places the heart at the center of human connection, unseen by the physical eyes yet deeply felt, the point in this work serves as an invisible but essential force, subtly shaping the composition. Its presence symbolizes the emotional core that shapes human relationships. This underlying principle was deliberately chosen to mirror the poem’s message and invite the viewer into a space of reflection and empathy.
I set out to create a composition that visually embodies the essence of this poem, an invitation not just to read its words, but to feel its emotion through the silent rhythm of line, space, and form. This union of form, meaning, and the symbolic point is a visual attempt to express the unspoken language of the heart, a quiet empathy that flows beyond words, allowing the verse to breathe through rhythm, stillness, and presence. The viewer is invited not only to see, but to feel.
The layout and illuminated borders of this piece were designed by Narvan using the traditional Hal-Kari technique within a classical Persian frame. The central paper is handmade Indian cotton, carefully mounted onto the passe-partout using a traditional starch-pressing method for lasting quality and authenticity.