Here in Portland I am involved with a collective of artists, all of South-West Asian, and North African (SWANA) descent, representing multiple disciplines and backgrounds. In 2023 I was invited to participate in a showcase specifically for these artists in the diaspora. This artwork was featured at SWANA Rose Community Center in Portland, Oregon in their Dimensions showcase, and represented the only 3D game art piece in the collection.
PROGRAMS USED: ZBrush, 3DSMax, Substance Painter, Photoshop
This personal project I made for the Dimensions showcase, was made to honor the mythology and folklore for the Raven for SWANA people of all faiths. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam the raven is honored and revered for its symbolism. There are many midrash (legends and stories told by rabbinical scholars study Talmudic literature, to account for gaps or missing pieces in the Torah; a midrash typically describes or explains missing context, and is taken as absolute truth,) about the Raven, which also align with indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and their understanding of the raven being a trickster. For specifically Middle Eastern and North African Jews, Christians, and Muslims, the raven is understood as a being that had initially transgressed, was pardoned by God, and eventually atoned for his sin.
They are a symbol of hope and change, and I wanted to explore those themes through 3D art, as well as 2D composition and editing. I sold and continue to sell four print compositions of the project, as seen above.
Some more stills of this work, captured in Marmoset Toolbag 4.
This work was also featured online in the digital magazine
Qafiyeh Review. Here is a bit more about their work:
Qafiyeh Review. Here is a bit more about their work:
A qafiyah (pronounced cah-fee-yah) is a crucial part of the Middle Eastern style of poetry called a ghazal. First written in 7th century Arabia in Arabic, it was later adopted by other cultures in the Middle East and North Africa. Ghazals now have been written in multiple languages including English, Farsi, German, Hindi, Pashto, Spanish, Turkish, and Urdu.
A ghazal consists of 5 or more couplets, with the first couplet ending in the same word. This repeated word (known as the radif) is the last word in every couplet. Every radif is preceded by the poem’s rhyme scheme that is set in the first stanza. This rhyme scheme that creates the rhythm of the poem is known as a qafiyah.
The Qafiyah Review hopes to achieve what the qafiyah and ghazal once did: uniting Middle Eastern and North African artists and authors by celebrating their work in a literary magazine centered around the beauty of M.E.N.A cultures and identities.