{"id":417178,"date":"2026-02-10T02:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/417178\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T02:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:06:15","slug":"a-medieval-persian-allegory-takes-flight-in-a-london-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/417178\/","title":{"rendered":"A medieval Persian allegory takes flight in a London gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

A King\u2019s Cross gallery is currently alive with birdsong, reimagining the 12th-century Persian poem The Conference of the Birds as a gently immersive exhibition.<\/p>\n

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The poem itself is an allegory: a gathering of birds set out on a spiritual quest, each one embodying a particular human flaw or attachment. Passing through seven symbolic valleys, they face trials and moments of revelation, before realising that the divine presence they seek lies within themselves.<\/p>\n

That sense of pilgrimage carries into the gallery. You are invited to take your own quiet journey through a wide range of avian-themed artworks inspired by the poem, each offering a different response to its ideas.<\/p>\n

The exhibition opens with a delicately constructed piece made from flowers and grasses. While it initially brought to mind corn doilies more than birds, it\u2019s a subtle and beautiful way to begin, setting a tone of craft and calm.<\/p>\n

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From there, the show moves fluidly between small bird paintings, vast murals influenced by Islamic art, and finely observed sketches. Some works present birds in still, formal profiles; others capture the energy and rhythm of flight. Particularly effective are the moments where birds merge with geometric patterns, creating elegant hybrids that feel both natural and abstract.<\/p>\n

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Scattered among the contemporary works are several 16th-century pieces on loan, and beyond the main display sit a couple of cases containing older objects, including an early Qur\u2019an placed alongside a modern, graffiti-style reinterpretation.<\/p>\n

Taken as a whole, the exhibition is wide-ranging but gently cohesive \u2014 a peaceful, almost garden-like space, where art, history and birdsong have come together in harmony.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, Canticle of the Birds<\/a>, is at the Aga Khan Centre<\/a> in King\u2019s Cross until the end of May.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s open daily and free to visit.<\/p>\n

Note, next to the gallery entrance, are handouts with details of the artwork to read up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A King\u2019s Cross gallery is currently alive with birdsong, reimagining the 12th-century Persian poem The Conference of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-417178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}