Noor: The Light Within
Exhibition launched: 29th January 2026
P21 Gallery is pleased to present Noor: The Light Within, a body of work exploring the symbolism of divine light (Noor) within Arab and Islamic visual culture. The exhibition presents paintings by Dubai-based artist Farnaz Faridfar, who reinterprets classical Islamic geometry and sacred colour symbolism through a contemporary lens. Through abstraction, rhythm, and light, the works engage with themes of spirituality, harmony, and feminine serenity, drawing on Islamic artistic traditions while remaining grounded in a modern visual language.
The exhibition centres on Noor as a symbol of guidance, purity, and transcendence in Islamic philosophy. Each artwork reimagines the geometric harmony foundational to Islamic art, translating it into contemporary abstraction through luminous layers of colour and form. Works such as A Love With No Boundaries and Hobb (Arabic for love) explore love as a transformative force, where geometric order is pushed, interrupted, and reconfigured through colour, movement, and the written word. Emotion and spiritual meaning emerge both within and beyond structure. Other works, including Illuminated Within, Sacred Flow, and Behind the Veil of Light, explore the balance between the seen and unseen, structure and spirit. Collectively, the works reflect unity and faith at the heart of Islamic aesthetic traditions.
Presented as an online exhibition, the works explore geometry, colour, and spiritual contemplation as living elements within contemporary practice. Sacred geometry is approached not as historical ornament, but as a dynamic visual language through which balance, unity, and inner stillness are investigated today.
For British audiences, the exhibition offers an encounter with Arab and Islamic culture through a contemporary language of abstraction and colour. By reworking principles of order, repetition, and harmony, the works create points of connection between cultural tradition and lived experience in today’s UK. They invite reflection on shared human values such as love, peace, contemplation, and interconnectedness, presenting Arab and Islamic culture as a living and evolving presence within contemporary global art.
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Sacred Flow2022 Sacred Flow is a beautiful fusion of Islamic art and a modern expression of colour, where sacred Islamic geometry, with its star-like, repeating patterns, comes alive through a vibrant spectrum of hues. In the lower half, the colours cascade in vertical lines, like rainbow tears or a rainfall of light flowing from within the intricate patterns. This flow of colour evokes a sense of release and liberation, symbolising the soul’s journey from unity to multiplicity and back again. Sale Price: £3600.00 |
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Inner joy in pattern2025 In this painting, Islamic geometry comes to life through vibrant and joyful colours, a celebration of light and harmony. The repeating patterns reflect inner balance, while the colours express a spirit filled with hope and serenity. The artwork becomes a visual hymn to faith and to the beauty of joy within divine order, capturing the timeless harmony at the heart of Islamic art. Sale Price: £2860.00 |
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Illuminated Within2022 In this painting, Islamic geometric patterns radiate like a sacred sun at the heart of darkness. The yellow and orange hues symbolise divine light, awakening, and presence, glowing against a deep navy-blue background. This contrast of colours reflects faith within the darkness, a light that rises from within and brings meaning to the world. The work becomes a spiritual reminder that true illumination comes from the divine source, a reflection of the eternal Noor that guides the soul toward clarity and peace. Sale Price: £2860.00 |
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Hobb2022 I, through diverse media and environments,reimagine Islamic geometric patterns as a living visual language through which the artist expresses contemporary perspectives on life, love, and womanhood. Traditional structures are not treated as restrictions, but as a foundation for dialogue and transformation. |
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Behind the Veil of Light2018 Behind the Veil of Light explores the spiritual symbolism of light and concealment in Islamic art and culture. The golden streaks evoke divine illumination (Noor), while the partial veiling reflects the sacred balance between revelation and mystery. The woman’s face, half-seen and half-hidden, becomes a metaphor for inner faith and the unseen beauty that lies within the human spirit. Sale Price: £2150.00 |
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A love With No Boundaries2025 This art piece speaks of love in our time, a love that refuses to remain within old boundaries. It burns with passion and restlessness, breaking the line between tradition and boldness. The colours pulse against each other, the forms push through geometric order, and a single curve moves across repetition to create new meaning. At its centre appears the word Hob (بح), Arabic for love, linking the work to the spiritual language of Islamic art where divine love is both written and felt. It is a flame passing through ancient forms, reaching for freedom, a love that seeks not to repeat but to transform. |
Farnaz Faridfar is a contemporary visual artist based in Dubai, born in Iran. Her practice explores the relationship between colour, geometry, and spiritual contemplation within contemporary Islamic art. Deeply influenced by Sufi thought and the aesthetic heritage of Islamic visual culture, her work investigates structure, order, and harmony through a contemporary painterly language.
Her compositions combine geometric forms, repetition, and layered colour to express ideas of unity, rhythm, and inner balance. Precision and emotion coexist in her work, creating spaces for reflection and stillness.
Farnaz has exhibited widely across the Middle East, Europe, and internationally. Selected exhibitions include Dubai Ladies Club, Abu Dhabi Art House, DUCTAC Gallery at Mall of the Emirates, Sikka Art Fair, DIFC Art Nights, the Istanbul Art and Antique Fair, Paris Expo Art Fair, and shows in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, and the United States. Her works are held in private collections throughout the UAE and internationally.
Trained in multiple artistic mediums, Farnaz finds painting the most direct channel for communicating inner experience. She is particularly drawn to abstraction, as it allows spiritual and emotional ideas to be expressed beyond language and literal representation.
Inspired by Islamic geometry-with its use of repetition, order, and balance as visual expressions of unity and faith-she explores themes of peace and spiritual connection. Through geometry, colour, and layered composition, Farnaz seeks to create contemplative spaces that reflect the relationship between the material and the spiritual. For her, painting is a meditative process, inviting audiences to experience harmony and a shared humanity rooted in Islamic artistic tradition.