Subhan'Allah: The Lord's Prayer
Date2013
MediumLetters from the Koran and Bible on paper
Dimensions30 × 22 1/2 in. (76.2 × 57.2 cm)
Framed: 33 1/4 in. × 27 1/2 in. × 2 in.
ClassificationsMixed Media
Credit LineCourtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Label TextIn her collages, Meg Hitchcock cuts single letters from holy books like the Bible and the Koran, recombining them in meticulous, surprising ways in order to “animate the common thread that weaves through all scripture.” In the center of Subhan’Allah, letters cut from the Koran combine to form lines from the Lord’s Prayer, a Christian prayer found in the New Testament that Jesus taught to his disciples. In the outer ring, letters cut from the Bible spell the phrase “Subhan’Allah,” an Arabic statement used in the Koran and often repeated in Islamic prayer meaning “Glory be to God.”
