This will be a hybrid event, and it will take place from 17:00 to 18:30 GMT.
About the lecture
The Institute of Ismaili Studies (ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡) will host a book presentation by the internationally renowned author and photographer as part of the Central Asian Studies Lecture Series.
It will introduce his 2024 publication, . Dr Amier Saidula, a Senior Research Associate at ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡, will moderate the session.
Focus of the presentation
During the lecture, Mr Sanders will reflect on his engagement with the culture of Muslim communities in China. He will examine expressions of faith, spaces of worship, material culture and Islamic symbolism within Chinese historical and cultural contexts.
The book draws on journeys across China, between 2000 and 2015, including collaboration with the calligrapher Haji Noor Deen. The presentation offers an opportunity to engage with a significant photographic study of Muslim life in China. Through images, text and calligraphy, the book explores faith, culture and artistic expression shaped by centuries of interaction between Islamic and Chinese civilisations.
Speaker
Peter Sanders
Photographer
Peter Sanders began his career in the mid-1960s photographing leading figures of the rock and roll era. In 1970, he travelled to India on a seven-month journey that marked a significant spiritual turning point.
He later travelled to Morocco and to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, where he photographed the HajjThe word Hajj usually refers to the annual pilgrimage by Muslims to the Kaʿba in Mecca, also called the Great Pilgrimage, in contrast to the ʿUmra, the Lesser Pilgrimage. More at a time when few professional photographers were granted access. Over five decades, Sanders has documented Muslim societies across the world. In 2019, he published Meetings with Mountains: Encounters with the Saints and Sages of the Islamic World. In 2024, he launched a major retrospective exhibition, Searching for Light: The Art of Seeing, at Ithra in Saudi Arabia. He is currently establishing the Peter Sanders Foundation to preserve and share his photographic archives.
Moderator
Dr Amier Saidula
Senior Research Associate
Dr Amier Saidula is a Senior Research Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. He holds degrees in Chinese Law, Islamic Studies and Humanities, and a Master of Laws from SOAS University of London. He completed his PhD in Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh.
Before joining ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡, he served as a state prosecutor in the High Procuratorate of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. His research focuses on the history, culture and traditions of Muslims in China, with particular attention to the Ismaili community in Xinjiang.
