Collection Encounters: Moonscapes

The Moon binds us all, transcending time and disciplines. Through Collection Encounters: Moonscapes, I explored rare books on astronomy and cosmology, including Simone Assemani’s Globus Caelestis Cufico-Arabicus Veliterni Musei (1790) from UNSW Library’s Special Collections, linking lunar scholarship with science, mysticism, philosophy, law, finance, and the politics of colonisation. By integrating my fascination with the Moon across Islamic, South Asian (Vedas), and Western traditions, I reveal it as a scientific body, financial symbol, spiritual guide, and artistic muse.

I discovered that while Western scholars are often credited with lunar scholarship, Islamic polymaths like al-Bīrūnī, Ibn Sīnā, al-Bāttanī, and al-Sufi made groundbreaking contributions to mapping the heavens. Their work has a substantial influence on Greek and Western scholarship and aligns with the Vedas, emphasising the Moon’s significance in South Asian and Islamic cultures.

My interest stems from childhood memories in Pakistan, where the Moon symbolised maternal bonds. My ancestral collection includes texts on Vedic medicine, astronomy, and astrology, which interweave cosmic energies, star charts, and numerical matrices to encode divine attributes. While astronomy is respected in Islam, divination is taboo; however, such knowledge persists in esoteric traditions, influencing my exploration of cosmic knowledge as the Divine Nūr (light). Using the Moon as my muse, I translate these narratives into visual art forms using the circle (unity) and the dot (conscious awareness).

In Moonscapes, I decode the Moon through objects of memory and domesticity, including silver coins, palm date stalks, bread, and personal memorabilia. Preserved as a celestial Cabinet of Curiosities, these items create a poetic, visual archive of the Moon and its cosmic influence. By blending academic and cultural analysis with personal mythologies, I invite viewers to engage with Moonscapes as ‘moving museums,’ fostering connections to the Moon, our shared eternal witness.

Commissioned by UNSW Library, Collection Encounters transforms the Library’s Special Collections into a source of active, creative inspiration. By inviting artists to engage with the collection, the program highlights its interdisciplinary relevance and offers new narratives and modern interpretations, demonstrating its continued cultural and scholarly value in the digital age.

Collection Encounters: Moonscapes is part of a broader program expanding on the themes in The Infinite Look: A History of Gazing Skyward (Level 5 Main Library) through a series of satellite displays across our library spaces. This program also includes Welcome to the Frontier: From Science Fiction to Hyperstition (Law Library) and The Lunar Gaze (Art & Design Paddington Library).

Top image: Abdullah M.I. Syed, Moonscape II: Ledger of Silver Dust, 2026 (detail). Courtesy the Artist and Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert, Sydney.

Accessibility: UNSW Main Library is wheelchair accessible and the display includes large-text labels. Displays and explanatory texts can be seen and read from a seated position.

UNSW Law Library is wheelchair accessible and there is step-free access to the exhibition space. Displays can be seen and read from a seated position.

UNSW Art & Design Paddington Library is wheelchair accessible and there is step-free access to the exhibition space. Displays and explanatory texts can be seen and read from a seated position and the exhibition includes large-text artwork labels.