Zellige Poems

Since January 2018, I have been working on creating a lexicon that translates shapes from the Moorish mosaic craft of Zellige into English to create a sacred language. Zellige is a craft solely taught in an Atelier system. Thus, the instructions for creating and assembling the mosaics, and more importantly, all the names for the 1300+ shapes of zellige tiles, are all passed down orally. With the government of Morocco, I have been working on creating the first comprehensive database of these names (spoken in Arabic) as well as a translation of those names into English. 

The language, a result of employing translated Zellige names as well as Zellige forms as logograms, is titled Khatim. Khatim refers to the star shape central to radial Zellige patterns. The word “Khatim” in Arabic also translates to “Ring”, reflecting the circular syntax of the language as well as the non linear philosophy of my religious sect.