The Art of Disappearance: How Hiç Shapes Training and Artistic Practice

Organised by Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – London, The Art of Disappearance: How Hiç Shapes Training and Artistic Practice will take place on Thursday, 13 November 2025, at 7:00 PM as part of the HİÇ: In Pursuit of Nothingness exhibition programme. 

In this reflective conversation, Soraya Syed and Bilal Badat explore how the Sufi principle of hiç—nothingness—lies at the very heart of artistic discipline and transmission. Trained within the demanding tradition of Islamic calligraphy, both artists have encountered hiçlik not as an abstract idea but as a lived process: a gradual effacement of ego that allows the work to transcend the maker. Through their exchange, they invite audiences to consider how true artistic continuity depends not on assertion of self, but on its deliberate withdrawal. 

The discussion opens with reflections on their formative years of training, where repetition, precision, and humility serve as the silent architecture of mastery. The act of writing—of surrendering to line, proportion, and breath—becomes both a technical and spiritual exercise, through which the artist learns to “become nothing” so that the tradition may live through the hand. From this foundation, Syed and Badat turn to their experiences as teachers, examining how the ancient chain of transmission (silsila) continues through those who carry its discipline into contemporary practice. 

As they navigate the tensions between individuality and lineage, visibility and invisibility, they ask what it means to create within a world that rewards self-promotion yet is built on traditions of self-erasure. Their dialogue moves between philosophy, pedagogy, and lived experience, revealing how disappearance and endurance, silence and articulation, co-exist within the creative act. 

Moderated by Nagihan Seymour, the session will also feature selected images from Soraya Syed’s artistic portfolio, illuminating how the gestures of ink, breath, and stillness manifest the metaphysics of hiç. The conversation thus extends beyond calligraphy to encompass the broader relationship between art, devotion, and self-transcendence—between form and the formless. 

By situating the notion of hiç within the living context of artistic practice, this event offers more than a discussion—it invites a rethinking of what it means to make art at all. To become nothing, in this sense, is not to disappear, but to become transparent to the essence that moves through all creation. 

📩 Questions? Email: [email protected] 

 By aligning with the HİÇ: In Pursuit of Nothingness Exhibition, this panel extends the dialogue from the visual to the intellectual realm, exploring how the concept of hiç continues to shape both artistic thought and creative pedagogy. Within the wider exhibition programme, the conversation forms a reflective counterpart to the artworks on display—tracing how ideas of effacement, silence, and surrender find expression not only in material form but also in the artist’s inner discipline.

Together, these encounters invite audiences to reflect on hiçlik as a living principle that bridges art and being—a reminder that disappearance is not loss, but transformation; that in learning to vanish, the artist allows meaning itself to become visible.

Additional Information

• Please arrive by 6:30 PM to allow sufficient time for seating.

• The talk will last approximately 60 minutes including Q&A session and with no intermission.

• Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – London (10 Maple Street, W1T 5HA) is easily accessible by public transport. Guests are encouraged to check local routes and parking options in advance.

• To ensure a focused and uninterrupted discussion, photography and video recording during the session are not permitted.

• Professional photography and videography will be carried out exclusively by authorized personnel of Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – London for archival, press, and promotional purposes. By attending this event, guests consent to the use of such materials.

• For any inquiries, please contact .

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Host or Publisher Yunus Emre Institute London