Cutting across continents, cultures, and a millennium, this installation brings together eighteen objects from VMFA’s permanent collections created in regions where Islam is or has been the dominant religion, or by artists from these places.

Some themes recur—the written word, self-awareness, cultural tension—but perhaps most apparent is these works’ great diversity.

This cross section of artistic creations from Islam’s sphere of influence is meant to provoke the question whether, and in what ways, we should call them “Islamic Art.”