Sajjadah 01 by Rasha Dakkak

As part of their daily rituals, Muslims conduct their prayers standing on a prayer mat. Initially conceived to facilitate the practice with a range of motifs (mosque, archway, etc.) repeatedly appearing; the prayer mat takes on a new meaning in a post-modern era by transforming secular spaces into devotional spaces. In Al-Sajjadah 01, Dakkak introduces a new motif by proposing two verbs abstracted from her comprehension of the practice of prayer in Islam. Five times a day, and from a Mosque minaret, you would hear a muezzin calling out Adhan. Two sentences acknowledged by every Muslim: Hurry to pray. (Salāh) / Hurry to success. (Falāh) While Salāh translates to prayer, Falāh is the Arabic word for success and is religiously defined as the triumph in obtaining eternal, blissful life. In Al-Sajjadah 01, a calligraphic image-text is employed inspiring contemplation by shifting across semiotic registers, challenging the resistance against the use of lettering as a motif.

Rasha Dakkak is a designer, educator, and researcher. She is the editor-in-chief and creative director of Bayn Journal, a bilingual journal advocating the urgency of shaping a climate that stimulates and supports the discourse on graphic design in the Arab world. She holds a dual master's degree in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and The Basel School of Design, with work featured in several professional publications, including AIGA Eye on Design, Domus Germany, and Wallpaper*. She has exhibited at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Amman Design Week, Weltformat Graphic Design Festival in Lucerne, and various others.