Author Archives: MANNAL KHAN

Franz von Stuck was a German artist who rose to fame during the 19th and 20th century. Growing up, his enthusiasm towards painting and sculpting helped him establish many different pieces of art, statues, sculptures, paintings, and more. Heavily influenced by the work of Arnold Bocklin, his main subject matter was more or so focused on mythology. Nudity, and seduction were also incorporated into his art to create a deeper meaning to his dark and horrific creations. One of the greatest pieces to ever have been produced by Stuck is Inferno. With my time at the Met, I realise this is an great painting to depict modernism in the 20th century.

The Inferno is a reference to Dante Alighieri’s medieval epic of journey through hell. In his painting, he depicts symbols of hell, or the so-called underworld, which is a snake, a demon, and a flaming pit. Heavily inspired by Auguste Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, Stuck helped recreate the dark side by portraying dark colors, and sadistic expressions. Importantly, the correlation of the painting and modernism, is remarkable. A few notable things I’ve noticed in this painting helped to determine that this piece of art stood out to me more than the others.

One of the features in this painting which depicts modernism to me are the poses. Each and every human being shown in the painting are unique due to it’s posing and action taking place. A snake wrapped around a female, whilst a man in fetal position, are heavily portrayed as if they’re both experiencing anguish and pain in the underworld. Their facial expressions, and bodily movements shows that everything they’re experiencing is surreal. Nudity is heavily portrayed in this painting and creates a much more deeper meaning to what is depicted because of the striations, the veins, the muscles, on each human being.

With the beginning of the Modernism era, artists began finding new forms of expression to create remarkable pieces to which they believed was an advancement prior to the 19th century. Stuck’s form of creating a sinister and dark art form was praised heavily by the people and what was needed to create surrealism and expressionism. As new forms of art were coming into play, Stuck took a different route to create his own genre, which is heavily looked upon and praised up until this day. I am gladly able to say, Inferno really hit the ball out of the park with this one in terms of modernism.

In Tayib Salih’s story, “The Doum tree of Wad Hamid” describes changes and modernization of the society which existed back then. The tree symbolized faith, prosperity, wisdom, and most importantly, strength. Wad Hamid was a slave to a man who did not allow him to express his religious values and prayer. He ran away to follow the will of God, and saw miracles happen in the form of prophesies and receiving help. His tomb buried next to the doum tree shaped the society and helped establish great principle amongst the people who resided at that time before modernization came into place. The story is much relatable to the events happening in society today, more in connection to the genocide and concentration camps in China.

In China, the Uyghurs are a small Turkic-speaking ethnic group residing in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The Chinese government for the past few years, have been detaining more than one million Muslims in reeducation camps. This is a form used by Chinese authorities of cracking down on Uyghurs residing in parts of China and removing them from public. The biggest reason as to the cause of this movement is religion. Religion plays a huge role in society and establishes norms, values, and ethics amongst the people.

Islam, the sole religion of the Uyghurs, has been heavily criticized due to its faith, and differences in China. Those detained in camps are forced and influenced to pledge their loyalty to the Communist Party of China, and no longer accept their religion of Islam. The values, the culture, the ethics, and most importantly the faith, must all be dismissed, and adapt to the views of the society they are living in today. Each and every one of those affected in these camps grew up realizing the importance of religion and must be forced to give that up to fit into the norms of the civilization of China. This relates to the story of Wad Hamid, as growing up, he was not allowed to practice his religion nor express his values.

With religion being a big aspect in the shaping of society today, the correlation between the doum tree and Islam is impeccable. Majority of the Uyghurs in concentration camps struggle to have their voice heard because of the many indifferences they have. Forced to praise communism and adapt to the Mandarin language, these are just the few practices happening in these reeducation camps held for them. Relating back to the doum tree, people living in society looked up to its symbolism and importance as everything around them was being modernized and stripped of its values. Just like the situation in China, Uyghurs are being forced to change, adapt, and modernize to the norms of society. However they would still like to uphold their faith in religion because it’s the only thing that they have to look up to.

The doum tree of Wad Hamid has a stronger connotation than it’s face value. As time progresses, humanity evolves, and modernization takes place. Newer inventions are also discovered, but our values will always remain the same. There will always be something to believe in, whether it’s a higher power, or a greater good. The doum tree of Wad Hamid is a prime example of how the significance of symbolism, wisdom and faith are portrayed.

Hi! My name is Mannal and I’m a transfer student at Baruch. It’s currently my first semester here as I’ve transferred from Hofstra University in Long Island, NY where I commute from to school. I’m currently a junior and am a finance major although I am taking my pre requisites for dental school, I know, two very different fields. When I was younger, I always knew that I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to help people and make a change in the healthcare field. As I transitioned into college, my science grades weren’t at its peak and the dream of becoming a doctor became a little unrealistic and difficult but, definitely NOT impossible. I’ve been working harder and have picked up my science gpa but, I also needed a back up plan in case of any change of plans, thus, finance.

As much as I enjoy the healthcare world, I also value nutrition which is a huge part of the healthcare industry. Millions of Americans are obese and there are a lot of factors that contribute to that such as cheaper fast-food alternatives, more affordable/processed food compared to grass-fed/organic byproducts, lack of exercise, etc. I was heavily obese when I was in high school. This obviously affected my self esteem and the amount of self love I had for myself. Last summer of 2018, I decided to finally make a change in my lifestyle and  better my health for a brighter and more sustainable future. I went on the Keto diet, where my body shifts into the state of ketosis and I use my own fat for fuel, thus, cutting my own body fat instead of uses sugars/carbohydrates for energy. After a year, I’ve lost roughly 60 pounds and and gained a lot of respect/love for myself. This is not only because I think I look better but, I was determined and didn’t give up on my goal, no matter how hard my days got. I impressed myself and bypassed my aspirations and for that, I will always be proud. I’ve changed my life for the better and this journey to better health is a life long journey that I certainly enjoy.