With a bewildered look and a furrowed forehead, Toma, one of the disciples, has put his finger into the wound on the right side of Christ’s chest, hoping to believe in the miracle through this revelation. Perhaps that’s why he is sometimes called Doubting Thomas; a disciple who believes in the miracle of ascension only by testing the wound on Christ’s chest, not through faith.

In the eyes of Caravaggio, the genius of the Baroque era, Toma the skeptic is an ordinary middle-aged man wearing the clothes of rural dwellers. With a gaze that can be described as foolish, he hesitates as he puts his finger into the wound on Christ’s chest, trying to believe that the miracle has indeed happened. His eyes have widened in astonishment, and his forehead bears the deepest creases of doubt.

However, Hamid Arabi, like a contemporary artist, portrays himself or his loved ones at the center of his great works. The background of his works resembles the majestic ceiling of a seventeenth-century palace or the sanctuary of a Baroque church. But he places himself or his loved ones in the midst of doubts, wonders, tests, or questions at the center of his work, just like each one of us who remain in the midst of doubts, wonders, and questions. Four centuries have passed since the image of that ordinary disciple who had to put his finger – in astonishment – into the wound on Christ’s chest to be sure of the miracle, but our questions and doubts seem to be the same as they were, and Hamid Arabi invites us to watch a comedic performance called life, with all its doubts and unanswered questions.

Hafez Rohani
June 2023