Sharifah Zuriah Aljeffri

COLOURS OF THE WIND - Notes from the Artist

The title of my solo exhibition, Colours of the Wind, is taken from the song with the same title in Walt Disney's most beautiful animated classic, POCAHONTAS. The film is a story about an Indian princess named Pocahontas and her people who were confronted by the arrival of a mysterious shipload of English settlers whose intention was to destroy the beautiful virgin forest and the environment of the New World. It's a story of a love between Pocahontas and Captain John Smith who prevented the English settlers from destroying the New World. In her predicament between her love for her people and her love for Smith, she turned to the wise talking tree, Grandmother Willow, for advice. She was advised "to listen to her heart and follow the colours of the wind."

I was attracted to the lyrics of the song:

You think you own whatever land you land on The earth is just a dead thing you can claim But I know every rock and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name.

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or asked a grinning bobcat why he grinned Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain? Can you paint with all the colours of the wind?

How high does a sycamore grow? If you cut it down, then you'll never know.

Nature is a divine trust and it deserves our loving stewardship. It is part of our heritage and we must respect and take care of it. We are allowed to take from it but we have the responsibility to uphold principles and values and to defend it from unscrupulous people whose greed clouds their judgement.

I never cease to be amazed to see the beauty and splendour of God's creation. A new shoot on a plant, a new bloom, and the changing colours of the leaves, the lofty mountains, the gushing water and the fluffy clouds bring forth a special excitement and happiness within me. I often wondered why I felt this way until I read the commentary by Sayyid Qutb in In The Shade of The Qur'an that reaffirms my feelings. He said:

"There exists in fact, some kind of a special language through which the human heart communicates with the universe and its marvellous scenes and phenomena. This language is part of human nature. It is a language which does not use sounds and articulation. It is a communication to the hearts and an inspiration to the souls which come alive whenever man looks up to the universe for an inspiring touch or cheerful sights. Hence, the Qur'an frequently urges man to reflect upon the surrounding universe." (Sayyid Qutb, 1981, In The Shade of The Qur'an, p 184).

The destruction of the environment comes in many forms. We always think that it is only destroyed by people who fell down the rainforests, build factories, pollute the environment and dump toxic waste that threaten the health of the people. We tend to forget that there is also another kind of violation that is committed by some world leaders to prove that they are the super powers of the world. Using atomic bombs and planting land mines have resulted in thousands of death and many more crippled for life.

The terrorists' attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killing many innocent people, shocked the world. As part of his "crusade", George W Bush, President of the United States of America vowed to wipe out terrorists and called on the world to join him in this "crusade". He made a threatening remark "You are with us or our enemy." His first target was Afghanistan where the Taliban regime had been harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda group. As Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there are other ways of combating the terrorists. First of all you need to find the root cause and the reason for the attack. Bombing a country, killing innocent people and destroying villages will not wipe out terrorism.

As I was painting for this show, my subconscious mind dwelt on the excessive bombing by US on Afghanistan just to kill one man. US aggressive action killed many innocent human beings - infants, the young and old. The bombing of the caves indirectly affected me as I painted the mountains. I imagined the beautiful caves that God has created and human beings destroying them in so many ways. I remembered my trip to Peshawar, Pakistan with a group of Malaysian women journalists to visit the Afghan refugee camps in 1980. We then went to the Khyber Pass and I could still remember the rocky mountains with very little vegetation surrounding the Pass. Everyday we watched this bombing of the mountains using highly sophisticated weapons to flush out Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 terrorists' attack, and his al-Qaeda group. What have they achieved? To me what they achieved is to quench their thirst for revenge and the destruction of one of God's beautiful creation. And worse of all we stood and watched this horrendous destruction. God created man to be his trustee on earth so that he will be able to protect and conserve the environment. But what we witness today is that man wants to destroy the environment so that they can control the world.

In a world that is chaotic, we need to go back into ourselves and to reflect on the beauty of nature. Throughout the centuries many beautiful poems are written by mystics and sages from different faith, ethnicity and culture. I quote here a poem by the great Sufi master Rumi written in the 13th century that aptly describes the socio-political chaotic scenario that we are in today.

Outside, the freezing desert night This other night, inside grows warm, kindling Let the landscape be covered with thorny crust We have a soft garden in here The continents blasted, cities and little towns everything, become a scorched blackened ball. The news we hear is full of the grief for that future, but the real news inside here is there's no news at all

Another example is a Buddhist Tale of "The River and the Clouds". It's a story of the river and her joy as she danced and sang as she ran down from the top of the mountain. As she grew up she noticed the clouds within herself; clouds of many shapes and forms and she wanted to have one for herself. Bu the nature of the clouds is one that is ever changing and thus the river was not able to posses it. She became frustrated and angry. One day a strong wind blew away the clouds in the sky and the sky became completely empty. Seeing this the river felt that life was not worth living as there were no more clouds to chase. She began to reflect within herself, listened to her inner voice and realised that clouds born from water and will return to the water. In this state of mind she was able to see the beautiful blue sky that she did not notice before. In her obsession of chasing after the clouds she had not noticed the sky which is the permanent home of the ever changing clouds. Another wonderful thing happened to her. She saw the beautiful moon that is like a jewel within her.

A Chinese poem describes the river's experience beautifully:

The fresh and beautiful moon is travelling in the utmost empty sky. When the mind-rivers of living beings are free, that image of the beautiful moon will reflect in each of us.

It's a lesson for all of us. Our obsession with trivial and unimportant things clouds our judgement and we need to be free of these trivialities so that our mind-river will be able to reflect the divine image of the full moon.

What will happen to the human soul if the beauty in the universe is destroyed? Will there be the colours of the wind when the land is barren and bombs and missiles scorch the earth?

Sharifah Zuriah Aljeffri March 2002