Artist Talk: Exploring Realism and Mysticism in Conference of the Birds

Join the Aga Khan Library and the Aga Khan Centre Gallery for an Artist Talk with three of the artists featured in the current exhibition, Canticle of the Birds (5 December 2025 – 10 June 2026).

The talk begins at 5:00 PM. We encourage guests to arrive early to explore the exhibition before the event, and there will also be time to visit it afterwards.

About the exhibition:

A mixed-media exhibition inspired by the Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar, exploring themes of spiritual journey, transformation, and interconnectedness. Organised in partnership with The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, the Royal School of Needlework, Drawing for the Planet, Songbird Survival, Kings Cross Academy, and Wendy Morrison Design, the exhibition brings together international artists, artisans, and young creators in collaborative projects.

Esen Kaya curates the Aga Khan Centre Gallery, and manages its artistic and engagement programmes. She is a professional artist with a degree in Fine Art Sculpture, and postgraduate study work across drawing, painting, installation, embroidery and sculpture. She has exhibited her pieces in several collective and solo exhibitions worldwide. In 2017, she received a three-year Honorary Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Sunderland.

Before joining the gallery, Esen worked as an educator and curator in museums and galleries across the UK. She promoted community-focused creative arts projects to facilitate access to and engagement with the arts and culture.

In 2014, Esen founded DRAWING, a series of exhibitions and events that explore the role and importance of drawing in work and everyday life. DRAWING engaged over 100,000 audience members through live exhibitions, events, creative learning and online activities. Esen continues to develop DRAWING as an online gallery.

About the artists:

Farkhondeh Ahmadzadeh is an Iranian artist based in London. Her work explores the disciplines of Persian poetry manuscripts, sacred geometry and Persian miniatures. She has lived a rich and adventurous life and has worked both as an academic and artist in Iran, America and Europe. For the last 20 years, Farkhondeh has regularly spent time living and studying under calligraphy masters in Iran. She was awarded the Jerwood Prize in 2011 for Islamic traditional art and continues to teach Islamic manuscript and Persian miniature at the Princes School of Traditional Art. Her body of work on Haft Paykar, the epic poem of Nizami, has been exhibited in London in 2016 and in Scotland in 2017. Her painting showing the stages of Reza Abbasi’s “seated man” is on permanent display art Albukary gallery, British Museum.

Geoff Sample is a field recordist, natural history author and sound artist, with a special interest in birdsong and the cultural history of hearing music in nature. His books and audio guides have been published by HarperCollins, including the best-selling Collins Bird Songs & Calls. His radio work has ranged from the BBC’s Tweet of the Day to the Essay series A Birdsong Garden and he has been a long-time collaborator with contemporary artists Marcus Coates and Hanna Tuulikki, as well as Mike Collier.

Dr Mike Collier, Emeritus Professor of Art and Ecology, University of Sunderland. He studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College before being appointed Gallery Manager at the ICA in London. He subsequently became a freelance curator and arts organiser, working extensively in the UK and abroad and initiated many major exhibitions whilst working at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, including the Tyne International. Throughout his career, Mike has maintained his artistic practice. His studio is in Cobalt, Newcastle, where he is a Co-Director. His work is in many public and private collections in the UK and abroad, including Japan where he has recently been artist in residence on Sado Island.

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