Samā‘
Category: Original Artwork
Calligrapher: SaBa
Illumination (Tazhib): Narvan
Poet: Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980)
Poem: Let us open the door to humanity, to light, to the plant, and to the insect.
Year: 2025
Size: 18" × 26" (45.72 cm × 66.04 cm)
Materials: Handmade 100% Indian cotton paper, Schmincke acrylic ink, and a handcrafted wooden paddle-shaped pen (chosen over a reed pen due to its broader width).
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.
In Persian culture, Samā‘ is the sacred, whirling dance of the Dervishes, a circular movement not meant to entertain, but to transcend. It is a mystical practice aimed at uniting the inner self with the greater truth of existence.
It is the body’s language for conversing with meaning, a silent dance that begins within, moves toward the center of being, and radiates outward in profound connection with all creation.
In this artwork, the words are not just meant to be read, they are meant to be felt, lived, and experienced. Samā‘ embodies a living dance, an awakened presence that is fully connected, deeply aware, and alive in each passing moment.
The piece revolves around a verse by Sohrab Sepehri, the poet of stillness and being:
“Let us open the door to humanity, to light, to the plant, and to the insect.”
The repetition of “و” the Farsi equivalent of “and” in this verse and throughout the calligraphy transcends its role as a simple conjunction. It becomes rhythm, movement, a spiritual pulse that breathes life into the text.
And humanity... and light... and plants... and insects... and... and... and...
The letter (و) "vā" with its graceful, spiraling curve, dances like a whirling Dervish, ever turning, ever uniting. It is more than a letter; it is a sacred gesture of meaning: a bridge between word and image, sound and silence, the part and the whole.
Each “و” in this piece is a doorway, an invitation to acceptance, to embracing difference, to the beauty of coexistence.
This composition invites the viewers to embrace all beings, to honor the sacred presence in every form of life, and to live with an open heart and a mind ready to receive.
By placing ‘humanity’ alongside ‘light,’ ‘plant,’ and ‘insect,’ we are gently reminded that we are only a part of this living world, not its center, but one presence among many, equal in existence, and bound by the shared responsibility to care for it.
The rhythm of the pen, the repetition of forms, and the texture of the script all move in quiet harmony, like a Samā‘ in ink and soul, turning silently toward the divine.
Samā‘ is more than calligraphy.
It is a sacred dance on the paper,
an invitation to enter the moment,
to awaken presence,
to live with awareness,
to feel the invisible thread that binds all things,
and to celebrate the oneness that unites us all.
The illumination and layout of this piece was composed by Narvan, featuring the classical Persian manuscript-style framing along the borders. The central paper is handmade Indian cotton, delicately mounted onto the passe-partout using the traditional starch-pressing technique for lasting quality and authenticity.