

In this manner, it is illuminating to see Anita Chowdry's shamsa collection inspired by the Islamic manuscript arts, but brought into a this century with the application of modern mathematical concepts, technology, and materials. Her series of shamsas (from the Arabic word for sun) are based on elements from traditional hand-painted Islamic manuscripts from the 15th through 17th centuries in Mughal India and Savafid Iran. In these royal manuscripts the first page was traditionally adorned with an elaborate medallion, meticulously hand-painted with mineral pigments and precious metals.

While studying the techniques used to paint these intricate sunbursts, Chowdry noticed the patterns are strongly reminiscent of fractal geometry and the famous images produced by Benoit Mandelbrot's research on the topic in the late 1970s and 1980s. Upon realizing this, she embarked upon a journey to incorporate her knowledge of the ancient art of manuscript illustration with modern mathematical concepts and technology. The result is a spectacular collection of images and objects:

Chowdry shamsa

The ancient art of opening hand-written texts with an elaborate shamsa was the starting point for Anita Chowdry's project titled Geometry, Illumination and Beyond

Chowdry hidden geometry

From there, Chowdry went on to draw visual parallels with the concept of fractals

Chowdry illumination

Some of these designs she translated into a new medium by using modern laser-cutting technology to create steel discs to be hung like mobiles

Chowdry Julia Set

Finally, Chowdry abandoned the traditional materials of 15th-century manuscript art to create motifs with the aid of computers using the Julia Set in fractal geometry. She notes that similar motifs turn up in Safavid designs that were influenced by the dragons in Chinese art.

If you're curious about the type of original artwork that inspired Chowdry's project, here are some beautiful examples I dug up in my own explorations for this post:

-a rosette from 17th-century India at the Met

-a Persian rug from the Savafid period (that sold at auction for $1.93 million!) displaying a motif reminiscent of the Julia Set (look just above the bird in the detail image)

-a Tedx talk by Yale professor Michael Frame on fractals in math and in nature