In Nazar Yahya’s solo exhibition at Wade Wilson Art, Houston (2014), and Karim Gallery, Amman (2016), the artist presents photographic prints conveying the story of the Islamic mystic poet Mansur al-Hallaj (858–922 AD). Yahya utilizes collage elements to shape his photographic prints into a story of a universal, divine light transcending distance, time, and culture. The exhibit features meticulously staged photographs and sculpture stemming from the pages of the artist’s sketchbook. Here, the personal and particular are in conversation with the universal. Yahya weaves together elements from disparate sources to convey timeless connection and truth; the traditional cloak worn by Iraqi mothers becomes that of the master mystic, Mansur al-Hallaj. In The Truth, Yahya strives to visually capture the same concept of ‘oneness’ that al-Hallaj sought, for which the mystic poet was tragically executed, after claiming “I am the Truth.”
