Whispers Under Wings - Global Conference of the Birds

- | East Gallery

Open daily from Tuesday 7 October - Saturday 11 October, 10am - 5pm

Free Admission, no booking required

orange, yellow, brown and blue bird
orange, yellow, brown and blue bird flying over a landscape
2 birds flying
colourful background with brown birds flying
orange, yellow, brown and blue bird
orange, yellow, brown and blue bird flying over a landscape
2 birds flying
colourful background with brown birds flying

In ‘Whispers Under Wings - Global Conference of the Birds’, Tanzanian artist Shafina Jaffer returns with a powerful continuation of her visual exploration of Farid ud-Din Attar’s 12th-century Sufi poem ‘The Conference of the Birds’. Building on the success of her recent show ‘Global Conference of the Birds’ at Zamana Gallery, London and the same at the World Trade Centre in Dubai, this new body of work deepens the spiritual and ecological symbolism of the original series, offering a more intimate and contemplative encounter with the birds’ journey toward divine truth. 

Rooted in mysticism and painted with materials drawn directly from nature, Jaffer’s work echoes the whispering voice of the soul—fragile yet persistent, like the flutter of wings on wind. Here, the birds do not just travel across deserts and valleys; they traverse the vast inner landscapes of self-doubt, attachment, fear, and awakening. Each piece speaks to the silence beneath sound, the stillness beneath chaos—the whispers that guide us if we are willing to listen.

Painted on sustainably sourced bark cloth from the forests surrounding Lake Victoria, Tanzania and using pigments ground from minerals, earth, and crystal, Jaffer’s work is not only spiritual but materially aligned with the ecological urgency of our times. Her paintings often feature endangered African birds—reminders of both biodiversity under threat and voices long ignored. In this exhibition, these birds take on a sacred presence: not simply seekers of a mythical king, but messengers from a world in peril.

'Whisper Under Wings' is about learning to listen again. To the land. To the birds. To the wisdom that lies beyond language.

Shafina Jaffer

The Hoopoe, once again, leads the way in these new works. With quiet authority, she calls each bird to undertake the journey through the seven valleys: Quest, Love, Knowledge, Detachment, Unity, Wonder, and finally, Annihilation of the Self. These valleys are not geographic—they are symbolic thresholds of transformation. In one painting, the Peacock gazes into its reflection, blinded by vanity; in another, the Finch trembles on a branch of uncertainty. The imagery is rich in metaphor, yet grounded in the tangible textures of natural material.

Shafina Jaffer’s practice fuses the poetic with the philosophical , the spiritual with the sustainable. A graduate of the Royal College of Art with a Graduate Degree in Art and Design and a Masters in Painting, and a 2023 Hyundai Award finalist for Excellence in Sustainability and Creativity, she continues to carve a unique path through the global art world. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and in 2023, her painting 'Take Me Away' was projected onto Windsor Castle during King Charles III’s Coronation Concert.

'Whispers Under Wings' is more than a visual journey—it is a call to stillness, to responsibility, and to remembrance. Through the language of birds and the geometry of spirit, Shafina Jaffer invites us to reflect on the fragile miracle of existence, and to rediscover what it means to truly fly.

Carving a unique path through the global art world

shafina stands in front of her work

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