This essay presents an extended theoretical reflection on how South Asian Shiʿa visually engage with image-objects, notably the metal standard (ʿalam), and replica of Imam Husayn’s Karbala shrine-tomb (taʿziya). I present four theoretical lenses to theorize South Asian Shiʿi visual interactions: 1. Image acts; 2. Objects as assemblages imbued with thing power; 3. Images as focal objects of reciprocal gazing, and 4. The intersensorial nature of image-objects.
Ruffle, Karen. G. (2021). Gazing in the Eyes of the Martyrs: Four Theories of South Asian Shiʿi Visuality. Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, Volume 1 (Issue 1-2), 268-290. https://doi.org/10.1163/26666286-12340012