Northwest Nirvanty (from the In Search of Eden Series), 1.5 m in diameter, multimedia installation with soda bottles, paper, wire and button motifs

In Husseini’s work “North West Nirvanty,” from the In Search of Eden series, he addresses what defines his understanding of paradise: Nirvanty – or My Nirvana, by creating a patch of flowers occupying a section of the space in glass soda bottles. Husseini’s North West, is the direction that occupied his military training when in the American army, based in the North West region of the United States. Arranged in the shape of an eight-pointed Islamic star, which by symbol is the seal of the Prophet (pbuh), and represents the sacred Ka’ba in Mecca and Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, shown as two square structures laying on top of each other.

Husseini implements his religious history, with that of a contemporary secularism visible through a haphazard harmony of color. The north western bearing given to the 8-pointed star, uses a palette of army dress codes and pointing towards one of eight directions, bringing the artist closer to finding that path of what he hopes ‘nirvana’ would be.

"When I was in the military, we were trained to find our bearings. That was the time where I felt secure, more so than when being in-between civilians, where situations are less controllable. I am under control, and I could help control what was happening around me. To find my Northwest means to find my guided horizon."

Without crowding and redefining the space it lays below, the patch of paper flowers sit innocuously on the ground rising in glass soda bottles, revealing his perception of solitude. Husseini’s Nirvana witnesses the blend of irony that this artist is subject to. He is not only a descent to the Prophet, or a Palestinian displaced by a superimposed exile, but a Palestinian born in Libya, who carried Jordanian citizenship in which he never lived, was brought up in Egypt, and became an American when he was 26. With such a composite identity, Husseini has a drive to show the world where he comes from.