The Valley of the Quest
The Valley of the Quest requires the renunciation of the body’s appetites. All previously held dogmas and beliefs must be abandoned, along with material possessions and superficial positions of power. I chose to depict hands clasped in prayer as well as a group of hands revering a speaker in a communal sermon at the bottom of the image. These images represent institutionalized religion, something the birds must now abandon in order to enter the Valley of the Quest and begin the spiritual journey. While this uphill journey will be challenging, it is illuminated by the Simorgh’s light and the call to enlightenment. For this reason, I included the tail of the Simorgh beckoning from the heights of the Valley, where there is also more light and clouds in the image, representative of enlightenment and the mysterious unknown, respectively. This graphic was created by blending images on Adobe Photoshop Mix.
Background music: Original composition for Santur and Daf by Danial Shariat.
A note on the music, “I wanted this to imitate the sense of adventure one would experience when starting a quest, therefore I used the faster and more upbeat tempo. The constant triplet rhythm of the Daf also helps create the image of the birds continually swooping up and down through the valleys” (DS).