THE WOW SERIES

The Arabic, Persian and Urdu letterو is pronounced as Waw, or Wow. It (و) also looks like the number 9 as well as a comma. It is also used as an actual word in Arabic, pronounced ‘Wa’ meaning ‘And’. To me, there is infinite optimism, generosity and hope in this word. Like the ‘Yes and’ of improv, it opens the door to creativity. Wa is also used as a preposition before God, usually when one swears by God, e.g. “Wa-Allah I am telling the truth”. Same type of usage in Turkish and Albanian and the region in general.

In my visualization, there are two Wows, much like the yin and yang symbol that complete each other. These enormous floating wows of glass reflect and refract the sky and Earth to bring in the new season of Spring. These works, incidentally were created on the eve of the Spring Equinox, Nowruz. Astrological charts for the new year claim #9 to be a lucky number and #6 to be a secret number. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the letter و looks like a 9, and when flipped, like a 6.