ARTWORK DESCRIPTION

This collaborative mural was crafted by thirty-six families from the Ottawa and Kingston Shia Ismaili Muslim community. Designed and assembled by local artists, the mural is inspired by a Ginan (religious hymn) entitled Uncha Re Kot Bahu Vechana by Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din.
The Ginan alludes to the struggles of a fish separated from its beloved. This struggle is an inherent and necessary part of its life journey and purpose. Similarly, the murīd (religious seeker) must engage in both an internal spiritual and external worldly search to return to the Creator. This piece honours the Canadian Shia Ismaili Muslim community, which has demonstrated generations of resilience, strength, and courage to overcome adversity and establish their identity across lands and throughout history.

The mural is comprised of eighteen different materials, which represents the multiple generations of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community and their close relationships with one another. The wood-crafted fish, decorated by primary school children in luminescent gold, represents the soul within each murīd that reflects the light of Allah. Children are represented by paper, which is adaptable and can take multiple shapes and forms. Young adults are represented by ribbon, which is flexible and ties other materials together. Adults are represented by rope which, when intertwined with other individual strands, has remarkable tensile strength. Seniors are represented by wool, a material that can weather all conditions and provides both warmth and comfort. These various materials come together to form the stream in which the fish embark on their journey.

The mural was gifted to the Multigenerational Housing Projects in Canada, dedicated to the Late Shia Ismaili Council for Ottawa President Karim Aziz Gwaduri (1976-2020) – a remarkable community leader, mentor, and friend.