Artist Sughra Hussainy

The idea to produce this book happened by chance -- perhaps. A few months ago my dear friend Luby Ismail reached out to ask if through my various networks I might be able to help an artist who was looking for a job and a place to live closer to her art residency program.

As I met Sughra Hussainy and saw her exquisite artwork, it dawned on me that her traditional Afghan/Islamic art and the 30 Days project could fit beautifully together; commissioning and showcasing her work in a book could be a good way to support her artistic goals. We started collaborating just a couple of months ago! Sughra's own personal story and the beautiful illuminations, miniature paintings, and calligraphy that grace the book's pages is another layer of what makes "30 Days - Stories of Gratitude, Traditions, and Wisdom" unique.

Five years ago, Sughra was invited to participate in the exhibition “Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan” at the Smithsonian’s Freer/Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C. As a result of her success and growing reputation, she learned that her life was in danger by the Taliban if she returned to Kabul. She filed for asylum in 2017 and has been in the U.S. ever since, receiving a master's degree in community art from one of the most prestigious art schools in the country, the Maryland Institute College of Art.

This illumination was Sughra’s project during the early months of the pandemic, when she was feeling a sense of hopelessness. She wanted to transform the fear-inducing coronavirus image into something more beautiful in her mind’s imagination. She made it round also to show that the entire world has been impacted. It took months to create. It's one of the first artworks in the book; there's a postcard of the image included too, a beautiful keepsake of this historic time.

Sughra uses organic materials for her artwork. Her paint is made out of gems like lapis lazuli and emerald, from rose flowers, turmeric, and coffee; her brushes are made from cat hair; she layers paper piece by piece with a paste made of flour. Creating this art is an intricate, time intensive, involved, and expensive process. In Sughra's words: "The body needs food, but the soul needs art."

I don't think it was a coincidence that Sughra and I met; I think we were destined to make something beautiful together, in the midst of a pandemic. InshAllah.

Thank you, Sughra. May this collector's edition of personal stories and exquisite original artwork bring us all more closer together.