Winter Light at the Southbank Centre

Winter light presents artwork across the Southbank harnessing the full spectrum of light and colour.

The images in Submission (2005/21) are drawn from a light animation that uses five-fold geometric patterns originally found in a mosque in Iran as source material.

The animation was the first artwork ever to use C# computer code and algorithms to animate a mathematical Islamic pattern.

Incorporating the images onto the huge glass windows of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the patterns take on a new context and meaning. The repetition of these simple shapes and lines mixed with vivid colour combinations creates a refined contemporary form of sacred geometry.

Breath (2020) uses concepts of contemplation, meditation, repetition and patterns often found in Islamic art.

The stills on display at the Southbank Centre are taken from an animation paced to mimic the act of breathing. Displayed here, this work sits between the spiritual and the everyday, allowing viewers space to pause and reflect.

Aath (2021) is a still taken from an animation using algorithms to animate Islamic patterns. The piece was commissioned for Traces – Bagri Art Trail, Asian Art in London 2021.

The geometric shapes represented in the artwork can also be found in the brutalist architecture of our buildings, including the iconic form of our mushroom columns.