Heaven and Hell - The Book of Greatness by Shadia Alem
Arabic calligraphy, collage and digital multimedia
The Book of Greatness by Shadia Alem
Heaven and Hell
Arabic calligraphy, collage and digital multimedia
"The Book of Greatness" by Shadia Alem
Shadia Alem’s The Book of Greatness / Heaven and Hell draws inspiration from Kitab al-ʿAẓama by Abu Sheikh al-Asbhani, a medieval manuscript mapping the symbolic landscapes of heaven and hell. Through Arabic calligraphy, collage, and digital multimedia, Alem translates this cosmological imagination into a contemporary visual language.
The work unfolds as a chromatic vortex where fiery reds and oranges dissolve into deep greens, evoking both ascent and descent. Across this shifting field, fragmented calligraphic forms hover between sacred script and abstraction, embodying the tension between chaos and order, revelation and loss.
Rendered on ChromaLuxe HD sublimated metal, the glossy surface intensifies depth, saturation, and luminosity, giving the piece a dynamic, almost living presence.
More than an image, the work operates as a portal, situating the viewer within a timeless meditation on imagination unbound—where heaven and hell emerge less as places than as states of perception.
55 paintings based on the old manuscript "Kitab al Azama/ “ The Book of Greatness " which depicts the imagination unbound of Heaven and Hell, by the ancient historian Abu Sheikh al-Asbhani : Modes of Transcending Reality in the Arabic Narrative Tradition.
Medium : arabic calligraphy, collage and digital multimedia
Limited edition : 5 + 1 AP – signed and provided with authenticity certificate
Print : special glossy ChromaLuxe print, premium thermal sublimate HD quality metal print. Extremely robust, durable vivid color, water resistant print embedded in an elegant black aluminium american box (50 mm H x 2mm)
Photo credits : Shadia Alem
