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Volume :28 Issue : 111 2010
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In Art and Application: Pomegranates in the Middle East
Auther : Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield
The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is to the Middle East what apples are to North America — readily available and ripe with multiple associations and purpose. Both fruits are widely symbolized and represented in Biblical and Eurocentric art, carry numerous and notable symbolic meanings, and have endured in the mythology and livelihoods of many cultures. However, it is the pomegranate, in the art, and culture of the Middle East, that inspires this geographic-graphic inquiry.
A series of paintings form the core of this research. While the first two series were created as a means to find my artistic equilibrium in a foreign culture, the other was considered research — paintings inspired by oral interviews conducted with respondents ranging from 25 to 80 years of age, representing Kuwait, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
Together the three series represent a unique visual literature review and research method used to explore a common fruit with multiple associations.