A visit to an art museum can be like joining a conversation. The changing installations in this gallery explore artists’ dialogues with the past, present, and future; with each other; and with you. Spend a moment here to join the conversation. Get started using the deck of cards on the bench nearby.

I’m Charlotte Ogorek, the museum’s Rexroth Project Assistant, I am Allie Blankenship, the curatorial assistant for Photography and I am Rose Hairane, the curatorial assistant for the museum’s South Asian Art, Islamic Art, and Antiquities Department. We will be reading selections from the interpretive introduction text for this art installation in the Conversations Gallery, titled Transmissions.

The artworks displayed here raise questions about communication itself. How can one person cause another to understand what is on their mind?

Most human communication is based on symbols such as marks, gestures, or sounds. We use these symbols to represent incredibly complex feelings and thoughts, which have no tangible or audible form. Transmitting meaning through symbols involves a wild leap of faith: ultimately, we rely on others to unfold and reanimate our symbols within their minds. This form of communication can create powerful human connections. But in our pursuit to understand and be understood, we also misunderstand, fail to listen, reveal things we do not intend, and send intentionally disguised messages. Our marks and gestures bear tremendously complexity.

Zoomorphic Calligraphic Design that Reads “In the Name of God the Benevolent, the Merciful” is a horizontally oriented work measuring 9 and 3/16 inches tall by 13 and 3/8 inches wide. It was created using ink on paper under wax coating in 1713 by an artist in Iran, with additions made later during the Qajar period. It was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum using funds from the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Fund, and the registration number for this work is 1977.65.

This rectangular ink painting is mounted within a frame featuring marbling in greyish-blue, orange, yellow, and cream. Within the frame, the figure of a bird is formed in thick, bold, black calligraphic lines made in ink on warm, yellow paper. The bird occupies the majority of the frame and is positioned slightly to the left of the frame in the foreground. It is highly stylized with small dots and geometric shapes. In the background, to the right of the frame, are two small shapes, also in black ink, one very squiggly and one vertical, varying in thickness. The remaining space on the sheet is not left blank, but filled in with very thin, light brushstrokes and specks in a diagonal direction from the bottom left corner to the top right.

Zoomorphic Calligraphic Design that Reads “In the Name of God, the Benevolent, the Merciful” is a horizontally oriented work measuring 9 and 3/16 tall by 13 and 3/8 inches wide. It was created using ink on paper under wax coating in 1713 by an artist in Iran, with additions made later during the Qajar period. It was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum using funds from the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Fund, and the registration number for this work is 1977.65.

This zoomorphic inscription is a version of the bismillah (“In the Name of God, the Benevolent, the Merciful”), the invocation to God that begins the Qur’an and opens each of its chapters. Mounted in a stiff paper border, it was likely positioned at the beginning of an album of calligraphies and possibly paintings assembled in the 19th century in Iran. Other animals commonly rendered in script include lions, storks, and parrots. While it is difficult to discern the words of the bismillah when rendered in the form of an animal, skilled readers knew how to search for the individual calligraphic gestures that carry the words encoded in the drawing.

This is the description for Offerings, a portfolio of nine photogravures by Shirin Neshat, an Iranian artist born in 1957 and currently living and working in New York City. The portfolio was created in 2019, and purchased by the museum using the Carl and Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art. Their registration numbers are 2025.6.1-9.

Each work is vertically oriented, measuring 20 inches high and 15 and ¾ inches wide. The portfolio consists of nine sequenced, black-and-white photographs of a set of light-skin-toned hands with short, plain fingernails and wrists extending into the beginning of the forearm. The sequence begins in a praying-hands position, with palms facing each other and fingers extended, and progresses through four stages. The palms open into an open position, facing upwards, before reversing the first four stages and returning to the original prayer position. In the first four works in the sequence, when the backs of the hands and wrists are visible, they are hand-decorated by the artist using matte black foiling with symmetric, mandorla patterns. As the palms and inner wrists become visible, numerous lines of small, tightly spaced text are handwritten across them. The inner sides of the palms, which touch when open, are decorated with larger, bolder calligraphic writing in the same matte, black foil. As the hands close in the final four pieces, the decoration on the outside of the hands is no longer there, and the bold calligraphy held in the open palms appears to be escaping down the wrists, spilling out from within the palms as they return to face each other.

This is the label for Offerings, a portfolio of nine photographic works by Shirin Neshat, an Iranian artist born in 1957 who lives and works in New York City. The works are photogravures with black foiling, created in 2019, and purchased by the museum using the Carl and Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art. Their registration numbers are 2025.6.1-9.

Offerings depicts a woman’s hands moving through phases of a simple, reverent gesture. The artist Shirin Neshat used a technique called foiling to impress decorative embellishments and poem verses onto the surface of the pictures. The poem, by 11^th-century Persian poet and mystic Omar Khayyam, is about the communal enjoyment of wine.

Although intoxication is discouraged in Islam, Neshat suggests that the shared pleasures of alcohol, like poetry, can be a path to transcendent shared experience. By layering the written word over the body's gestural language, she communicates unspeakable thoughts and experiences on multiple levels.

This is the label for a selection of works by Aaron Siskind, an American photographer who lived from 1903 to 1991. Gelatin silver prints of these photographs, taken between 1952 and 1980, were created in 1982 and gifted to the museum by Dr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Richfield. The registration numbers are 1984.183, 1984.185, 1984.187,1984.188, and 1984.191.

In the 1940s, Aaron Siskind began making photographs of found objects, including fragments of lettering and graffiti on walls on several continents. While Siskind treated the letters and drawings as abstract forms, his photographs also suggest that these anonymous marks carry the energies and emotions of entire civilizations.

Are there deeper aspects of human experience encoded in the symbols we use to communicate? Is the compulsion to make marks itself a universal human trait?

This is the description for Lima 179, a gelatin silver print by American photographer Aaron Siskind. The photograph was taken in 1980 and printed in 1982. This work was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Richfield, and the registration number is 1984.183.

Lima 179 is a black and white photograph in a nearly square format, 9 and 1/16 inches high and 8 and 15/16 inches wide. In the center of the photograph, three thick, black bands are painted on an uneven, light-colored surface. The bands break in the lower third of the photograph, with the bottom segments extending out of the frame. These lines are not clean, with jagged edges where the paint may have run or dripped, slight splattering around them, and the lighter color and texture beneath showing through in some parts. On the left of the image, at center height, is a more solid, misshapen black circle. In the upper left corner, human figures are etched or faintly drawn in white, in a disproportionate and cartoonish manner.

This the description for Guadalajara 15, a gelatin silver print by American photographer Aaron Siskind. The photograph was taken in 1961 and printed in 1982. The work was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Richfield, and the registration number is 1984.185.

Guadalajara 15 is a horizontally oriented black and white photograph, measuring 9 and 1/16 inches tall and 11 and 15/16 inches wide. The black and white image appears to be a cement surface with patches of peeling, light-colored paint and dark, unprecise markings in black paint. In the lower half, curvilinear lines create irregular shapes. In the upper half, there appear to be letters written- perhaps a J, V, and A, with the top points of the center V extending into horizontal lines over the letters on either side.

This is the description for Chicago 59, a gelatin silver print by American photographer Aaron Siskind. The photograph was taken in 1952 and printed in 1982. The work was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Richfield, and the registration number is 1984.187.

Chicago 59 is a vertically oriented black and white photograph measuring 11 and 15/16 inches high and nine inches wide. Chalkboard-like surfaces are embedded in a wooden frame and covered with words, printed by hand in uniform horizontal lines, apart from a hand-drawn guitar and tombstone shape. Words are written within and around these shapes as well. The upper two-thirds of the board are black with white writing, while the bottom third, separated by a wooden panel, is white with black writing. The writing is legible, but the message is unclear, perhaps advertisements, with lines such as:

“Homesownery Mary Trades Dry Goods Store”

“Homecooking Good Food Honey From Clover is Best”

“Neighbor-Twin-Lith[u]anian-Paintor”

And  “And Shoe Service Day Trade”

This the description for Rome 64, a gelatin silver print by American photographer Aaron Siskind. The photograph was taken in 1963 and printed in 1982. The work was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Richfield, and the registration number is 1984.188.

Rome 64 is a vertically oriented black and white photograph measuring 12 inches high and 8 and 15/16 inches wide. A concrete surface is painted a dark color in the top half and into the lower third. This lower third, separated by a white horizontal line, appears unpainted, showing a rough, uneven surface that is lighter in color. A cartoonish outline of a woman’s head is painted with thin, black, sketch-like brushstrokes, lacking detail or precision. Her face and the outward flip of her shoulder-length hair are seen in the lighter bottom third, while the top of her large and round bouffant hairdo extends far into the dark upper section. She has no neck, only a face and hair made of lines and shapes.

This is the description for Arequipa 4, a gelatin silver print by American photographer Aaron Siskind. The photograph was taken in 1979 and printed in 1982. The work was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Richfield, and the registration number is 1984.191.

Arequipa 4 is a nearly square black and white photograph measuring nine and 1/16 inches tall and eight and 15/16 inches wide. An uneven, rocky surface with a weathered layer of light paint is pictured in close proximity, with a painted black spot at the top of the image to the left of the center, partially out of frame. From the left side of the image, loosely constructed brushstrokes enter. The upper line crosses the page horizontally before splitting into two lines, both curving down and inward. The lower line enters around the lower third of the image and stops halfway across, curving slightly upwards, with several shorter lines extending upwards.

This is the description for Alif from Variations on Seven Letters of the Arabic Alphabet, a portfolio of works using collage, screenprint, and pencil created by Mehdi Moutashar in 1996. The French and Iraqi artist was born in 1943 and lives and works in Arles, France. The museum purchased this portfolio using the Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art, and the registration numbers of the works on view in this installation are 2024.17.1, 2024.17.3, 2024.17.4, and 2024.17.5.

The four selected works from this portfolio, Alif, Nun, Qaf, and Waw, are horizontally oriented artworks measuring 16 and 1/8 inches high and 21 and 7/16 inches wide. Using black quadrilateral shapes of differing lengths and guided by straight lines drawn in pencil to make a geometric eight-point star, an abstract form is created in the center of the frame. Against the white paper, the solid black screen-printed shapes have a slightly grainy, dry finish, while the paper shapes have a smooth finish, adding subtle dimension to the forms. The use of quadrilaterals, consisting of only straight lines, creates an interesting contrast to the flowing loops and curves used in traditional Arabic script.

This is the label for Variations on Seven Letters of the Arabic Alphabet, a portfolio of works using collage, screenprint, and pencil created by Mehdi Moutashar in 1996. The French and Iraqi artist was born in 1943 and lives and works in Arles, France. The museum purchased this portfolio using the Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art, and the registration numbers for the works included here are 2024.17.1 and 2024.17.3-5. 

Mehdi Moutashar creates abstract and minimalist compositions that explore his Iraqi heritage. By stripping scripts of their ornamental details, Moutashar reveals the underlying principles and geometries of calligraphic form.  

The four prints seen here come from a portfolio that is a tribute to the Andalusian philosopher Ibn ‘Arabi (1165–1240), who influenced the development of Islamic philosophy, poetry, and spirituality. Ibn 'Arabi taught that humanity and the universe are facets of one underlying order. According to Ibn ‘Arabi, seven letters from the Arabic alphabet express this connection. Shown here (from right to left):    

• alif (ٲ), an expression of the creative breath 
• nun (ن), a metaphor of the universe born of divine will 
• qaf (ق), a representation of wisdom and knowledge 
• waw (و), an expression of the breathing movement of the universe 

This is the label for Folio from the Qur’an Describing the Disbelievers; Sūrat al-Baqarah (Chapter: The Cow) 2: verses 101–2 from the museum’s South Asian Art, Islamic Art, and Antiquities Collection and featured in this Conversation Gallery installation, Transmissions. 

Folio from the Qur’an Describing the Disbelievers; Sūrat al-Baqarah (Chapter: The Cow) 2: verses 101–2 is a horizontally oriented rectangular work, measuring 7 and 3/16 inches tall and 11 and 3/16 inches wide. It was created between the 9th and 10th centuries in Iraq or Iran using gold, ink, and color on paper. It was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum using funds from the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Fund and has the registration number 1977.42. 

Six lines of bold, dark, gestural script fill the center of the page in ink, with each word surrounded by a white outlining space. Encapsulating the loops and curves of the script, this white outline resembles clouds. Some portions of this outline in the top line of text reach outside of the rectangular frame, composed of thin green, red, and blue lines. Gold fills this empty space within this frame, but the space beyond the border remains blank. Within the cloud-like outlines around each word, red and green dots appear to guide the reader.

This is the label for Folio from the Qur’an Describing the Disbelievers; Sūrat al-Baqarah (Chapter: The Cow) 2: verses 101–2 from the museum’s South Asian Art, Islamic Art, and Antiquities Collection and featured in this Conversation Gallery installation, Transmissions.

Folio from the Qur’an Describing the Disbelievers; Sūrat al-Baqarah (Chapter: The Cow) 2: verses 101–2 is a horizontally oriented rectangular work, measuring 7 and 3/16 inches tall and 11 and 3/16 inches wide. It was created between the 9th and 10th centuries in Iraq or Iran using ink, gold, and color on paper. It was acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum using funds from the Fanny Bryce Lehmer Fund and has the registration number 1977.42.

Can a writer change your understanding of words through the physical appearance of their writing? 

Kufic is an angular calligraphic script developed around the end of the seventh century in present-day Iraq. When writing in Kufic script, the calligrapher could expand or contract letter forms to make words fit the exact length of each line on a page. The freedom to stretch and flex characters makes visually bold forms that are simultaneously challenging to read. Red and green diacritical marks provided guidance for the reader. Later annotators added the so-called cloud bands that envelop each line of text. More fluid, cursive scripts that include diacritics and letter markers to indicate pronunciation patterns in the Arabic language eventually replaced Kufic.