"Monsters as Bearer of Life-Giving Powers? Trans-Religious Migrations of an Ancient Western Asian Symbolism (9th to 14th Century AD)" a talk by Dr. Sara Kuehn at IGNCA, 1, CV Mess, Janpath > 3pm on 4th February 2014

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Conference Room, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), 1, Central Vista (CV) Mess, Janpath, New Delhi-110001
Landmark : Opp. National Archives, adjoining India Gate Lawns
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Metro : Nearest Metro Station - 'Central Sectt.' (Yellow Line and Violet Line) Exit Gate - 2

Event Description : Lecture on “Monsters as Bearer of Life-Giving Powers? Trans-Religious Migrations of an Ancient Western Asian Symbolism (9th to 14th Century AD)” by Dr. Sara Kuehn.
The paper will discuss the visual conceptualisations of the gaping jaws of a monstrous being flanking a central motif in Islamic and Eastern Christian art in the late medieval period. In medieval writings reference to the gaping maw of a great monster (as well as its breath or saliva) frequently alludes metaphorically to impending calamity and the passage to another world. At the same time it is a mythical paradigm of the bivalence of a deep-seated historic force: the yawning jaws of all-consuming death that is destructive power can as well symbolise the power of life or generative power. The bifacial motifs thus may imply a divine-demonic unity. This dual force is reflected in the visual pairing of the monstrous heads. 
Dr. Sara Keuhn is a historian on Islamic Art who has done her Masters on the subject from School of Oriental and African Studies, London and doctorate from Free University of Berlin. Since 2011, she has been researching on visual piety, devotional artifacts and material culture of Sufism in western Balkans.

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