Sculpture series · 2011–2018
Zarina repeatedly transformed prayer beads into sculpture, changing their material, scale, weight, number, and fall while preserving the rhythm of repetition and touch.
FormSuspended or coiled strings of sculptural beads
Materials representedStained and gilded wood, black marble, green onyx, leather, steel, silk, and gold thread
Shared formPrayer beads enlarged into suspended sculptural lines
Tasbih is the word for prayer beads used in devotional recitation. Zarina enlarged and extended that intimate, hand-held form into long sculptural lines whose materials alter how they catch light, occupy space, and suggest touch.
Across the works presented here, repetition becomes both structure and meditation. Each Tasbih remains a distinct sculpture, defined by its date, material, number of elements, dimensions, and physical character.
Wood, marble, and onyx move differently between opacity and light. In the gilded works, gold leaf brings the suspended line toward noor—divine light—while the repeated beads retain the bodily rhythm of counting and recitation.
The comparison below keeps the sculptures proportional and uncropped, allowing their different lengths, weights, and surfaces to remain visible without distortion.
Material distinctions
The photographs are kept proportional and uncropped so that the material and fall of each sculpture can be compared.
2011
Thirty-three stained maplewood beads touched with 22-karat gold leaf form an elongated suspended strand. Black leather cord gathers the elements into a work shaped by repetition, weight, and touch.
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2016
Thirty-three black-marble beads are joined with oxidized steel wire and silk cord. Their dense, dark surfaces turn a devotional object into a suspended sculptural line.
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2017
Ninety-nine light-green onyx elements form a 166-inch strand. Steel cable carries the repeated units through space; the work is recorded as edition varie 1/2.
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Ninety-nine sheesham forms extend the tactile rhythm of prayer beads into a 169-inch line. Left ungilded, the wood keeps its grain and weight visible; steel cable turns a sequence meant for the hand into a suspended measure of space.
Here, 22-karat gold leaf changes sheesham from matte wood into a shifting field of reflected light. Gold thread and steel cable hold the beads together, binding physical repetition to the devotional idea of noor.
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