We are happy to announce our new Instagram guest curator: Professor Bernard O'Kane, who is curating a series of images of tile work from the Islamic world starting February 1. Bernard O'Kane is a professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at The American University in Cairo. He has authored several [...]
Converging Paths has launched a new initiative to enable audiences to ask their burning questions about the artistic culture of the Islamic world to leading experts in the field. This is also a great opportunity to get an insight into the professional and day-to-day life of our specialists. This month, [...]
Artist, educator and activist Bahia Shehab discusses the role of artists at times of political change, and reflects on what it meant to take part in the Arab Spring a decade ago. She talks about her newly-published book "You Can Crush The Flowers: A Visual Memoir of the Egyptian [...]
Dr Sarah Stewart is Shapoorji Pallonji Senior Lecturer in Zoroastrianism and co-chair of the Institute of Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS, as well as curator of The Everlasting Flame, Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination (Brunei Gallery at SOAS and National Museum in Delhi in 2016). Dr Stewart shares her insights and knowledge about the [...]
Ratish Nanda, CEO of Aga Khan Cultural Services - India, tells us about his work and how the Aga Khan Trust for Culture helps transform neighbourhoods and communities based on their needs. Nanda and his team have revived and reinvigorated public spaces in India, creating new recreation places with a [...]
Liana Saif explores how divination, talismans, amulets and ritual have helped people address social anxieties and cultural challenges throughout history. Liana Saif is a post-doctoral fellow at the Warburg Institute and Université Catholique de Louvain as part of the project "The origin and early development of philosophy in tenth-century [...]
Mehreen Chida-Razvi takes us on a journey to one of the 'New Seven Wonders of the World': the Taj Mahal. This podcast explores the daring love story behind the building and the many aspects of a landmark that has come to embody the cultures of India. Mehreen Chida-Razvi is an art [...]
Robert Carter, Professor of Arabian and Middle Eastern Archaeology at University College London, takes us through 7,000 years of the pearl trade in the Gulf and India, and how it shaped the global economy across time. Robert Carter is Professor of Arabian and Middle Eastern Archaeology, and Graduate Tutor [...]
Jaimee Comstock-Skipp takes us on a magical journey to learn more about the epic poem of Iran: Firdausī’s Shāhnāma - a tale that distills love, treason, revenge, and the struggle for power. She reflects on the book's role as a guide for good leadership, and looks at its illustrations for [...]
George Manginis, Academic Director at the Benaki Museum in Athens, sheds light on the importance of the Monastery of St. Catherine in Mount Sinai, Egypt—the bridge between Asia and Africa. George reveals how, contrary to popular belief, the monastery has been an important place of pilgrimage for the three Abrahamic [...]
