In this painting I wanted capture the elegantly simple hypnotic performance of ancient Sufi dance: Rumi's Whirling Dervishes
The whirling dervish ceremony, or sema, which blurs the lines between dance, prayer, meditation and trance. Sema is the ritual of the Mevlevi Sufi order, based on the 13th-century philosophy of Rumi, symbolising the rising of the human soul by releasing the ego to become enlightened, and thus to become united with God. During the elegantly simple performance, rotating with skirts swirling in a choreographed constellation of dancers, the dervishes are believed to become a conduit for divine blessings. “While whirling, his arms are open, his right hand directed to the skies ready to receive God’s beneficence, looking to his left hand turned towards the earth. Egos and personal identities abandoned, they attain spiritual perfection. Then he return from this spiritual journey as a man who reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation, to all creatures without discrimination of believes, races, classes and nations.
In 2005, the sema’s cultural significance was recognised by its inclusion on UNESCO’s third Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Signed by the artist. Art gallery quality construction. Meticulously designed and hand painted in oil over canvas, one of a kind original contemporary art. Ready to hang. Artist Coskun Ozcakir will provide a genuine certificate of authenticity (COA) with specific descriptive details about the art.
