In Memory of Sayed Rawi

"Art - like music - creates a harmony of light, so, no surprise that the great masters of music like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Vivaldi, Liszt, Chopin, and Schubert, are poetic elements in the mosaic of instruments within my canvas."

Sayed Rawi was tragically killed January 17, 2008. Someone once called him the Artist of the Yancey House . . . and it is true. . . not because of hisbeautiful artwork that hangs on the walls but because of his heart. A heart filled with joy and love and enthusiasm . . . a heart as light as a feather.

Sayed, an Egyptian by birth, once told Michael a story from The Book of the Dead (known to the ancient Egyptians as prt m hrw 'Coming Forth by Day') .A deceased Egyptian, Ani, is led to the chamber of his judgment and stands before a huge scale. On one side of the scale, Ani’s heart is placed in a jar. On the other side of the scale is a feather.. If one’s heart were heavy with regret or the pull of selfish desires, then Ani could not enter heaven. The soul can only live forever if the heart is as light as a feather.

From the moment we purchased the Yancey House, Sayed supported us, encouraged us, offering his services, his enthusiasm, as well as his art works. His life is a lesson for all of us to lift our thoughts and let our hearts be filled with hope and joy, and become, has his soul has become, as "light as a feather."

 

In August 2007, Sayed took on a new fundraising project -
the Caswell County Animal Shelter.
(article by Rebecca Blanton in Danville Register & Bee)

Rawi said animals often display somewhat supernatural characteristics.He recalled the mysterious story of a childhood neighbor in Egypt. “She could not have children,” Rawi said. “Her doctor told her so. “My mother told me the story and I tell it to you now,” he said. “One day a black cat showed up at her house and she took it in. She fed it and cared for it and loved it. “One day it disappeared and within weeks the woman was pregnant,” he said. “The boy she had grew up to be my friend, a community leader and a dentist. It was because she was kind to the cat.” Rawi nodded, remembering the story even as he began another. “There was another woman who beat a cat almost to death,” he said. “Then she found out within days her three daughters had also been beaten.” Myth, urban legend or truth – it doesn’t matter. The point of the stories, he said, is to be kind to animals, especially to cats, and to treat them as though they were dead relatives who have come back to visit. - Blanton

 

Art from the Heart

In February 2007, YanceyVillage Preservation, YH non-profit organization had a silent auction to benefit Caswell County's Gunn Memorial Library. This is the artwork that Sayed donated.