[Reader-list] Sydney Artist Fuses Islam with Surfboards

[Paul Miller]

As the art market collapses, and people run for cover from the fast  
paced approach of a collision of fundametalisms... hey! where's the  
best place to seek cultural understanding?
Paul

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7769028.stm

Sydney art fuses surf with Islam
By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney

Phillip George wants to bring Islamic art to a wider audience

An Australian artist has produced a range of Islamic surfboards in an  
attempt to create a greater understanding between East and West.

Phillip George was inspired by his trips to the Middle East and by  
riots in 2005 when Lebanese Australians were targeted on a beach in  
Sydney.

He has called the range the Inshallah - or God Willing - surfboards  
and has put them on exhibition in Sydney.

There are 30 surfboards in all, each adorned with intricate Islamic  
motifs.

Mr George hopes that the Inshallah surfboards can help bridge cultural  
and religious misunderstandings within Australia.

His inspiration has come from his travels and also from the Cronulla  
riots, when a crowd of mainly white Australians gathered at a  
beachside suburb of Sydney and targeted people of Middle Eastern  
appearance.

This is an attempt to fuse the Australian beach culture with the  
Islamic culture, he says.

The boards are adorned with intricate patterns from Islamic culture
"What I've done to bring the joy and the interest of our Islamic art  
to an Australian audience," said Mr George.

"I have actually transposed a lot of my photographic images - the work  
of the tiles and shots of the mosque - on to a surfboard so that they  
become a lot more acceptable or easy to digest for an Australian  
audience."

The exhibition, Borderlands, is at the Casula Powerhouse arts centre  
near Sydney.

All the surfboards face Mecca, and visitors have included  
schoolchildren from Cronulla, a mainly white suburb, and pupils from  
Sydney's Islamic schools.

This is not the first time that symbols of the Australian beach  
culture have been used in this way.

A local designer has already brought out what she calls a burqini - a  
full-length swim suit to make Muslim women feel more comfortable at  
the beach.