TABULA RASA
The idea of the mind as a tabula rasa occurred late in the 17th century, when the English philosopher John Locke in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), argued for the mind’s initial resemblance to “white paper, void of all characters,” with “all the materials of reason and knowledge” derived from experience. Essentially, he says that the human mind at birth is a complete, but a receptive, blank slate (or tabula rasa) upon which experience imprints knowledge.
For his exhibition in London’s Lazinc Gallery, eL Seed takes the idea of tabula rasa as a starting point and implants it onto the deep-seated preconceptions that are commonly held about the Arabic script and culture.
Too often, thanks to biased media reports or cultural misconceptions, the Arabic script is associated with terrorism and extremist acts when in reality, it is a beautiful and compelling language. Calligraphy has, for centuries, enticed even those who cannot read it through its structure and form.
eL Seed’s free flowing style attracts collectors from all over the world and his underlying concepts always work towards spreading peaceful and unifying messages. For Tabula Rasa he invites his viewers forget everything they previously thought about Arabic before entering the gallery and then immerse themselves in the calligraphic experience.
