Inspired by Separated by Millennia, our exhibition of paintings by Leicester artist Sarah al-Sarraj at Two Queens Gallery, we presented a day of activity dedicated to astronomy and Islam in collaboration with the New Crescent Society at The National Space Centre.

The Programme

11:45am: Artist Talk 

Sarah Al-Sarraj’s talk explored world building and conceptions of space and time from the global majority, with a focus on Islamic and Arabian history and folklore. She discussed navigation methods native to the Arabian peninsula, cartography, deep time, determinism and Black Quantum Futurism.

The talk took place in the National Space Centre’s ‘Live Space’.

12:30pm: Zine Making Workshop

Sarah Al-Sarraj and Jessica El Mal led a science fiction zine-making workshop. This creative workshop introduced the concept of world building to participants using examples on view at the Centre. Participants had the chance to make their own zines using collage.

1:30pm: Islamic Astronomy talk

New Crescent Society, a Muslim community-led astronomy organisation, presented a guide to looking at the sky and finding the new crescent moon, a significant practice for Muslim communities around the world. This event took place in the National Space Centre’s ‘Live Space’.

2:20pm: Astronomy and Islam Tour of the Night sky planetarium show

At 2.20 we took a tour of the night sky highlighted some of the links between Arabic astronomy in the centre’s amazing planetarium and some of the constellations visible in the sky at the moment.

3pm: Talk from Imad from New Cresent Society

To finish the day we heard more about Imad’s research.

Check out Becky Harrison’s video from the day!