Re-thinking the depictions of two-dimensional ‘living beings’ in contemporary Islamic art / Lina Kattan

• Main Author: Lina Kattan
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/16567/2/PRO_LINA%20KATTAN%20M%2015.pdf; http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/16567/

This paper principally discusses the religious aspects of Living Being’s representations within Sunni Islamic and Saudi art contexts. It first examines classic Islamic scholars’ visions (conservative and liberal) towards full-figure Living Being depictions, and then compares these visions with their contemporary counterparts. Both classic and contemporary visions tremendously differed. I argue that contemporary Islamic perspectives permitted full-figure representations on two-dimensional surfaces (with some limitations), and at the same time, continued to prohibit three-dimensional depictions. Due to the flatness of the drawn/painted illustration, this study discusses how two-dimensional full-figure Living Beings is no longer sinful as assumed before.