The Picture of Karbala’s Climate and the Degree of its Reference in Three Scenes of Ashura in Shi’a Drawings Based on Bertrand Westphal’s Geographical Critique

This study aims at explaining the capacities of geographical critique in studying the effect of Karbala’s climate in formation of artistic works. Space-time and reference are among the theoretical principles of this type of critique. Reference also refers to the relationship between the real space and its representation in artistic and literary works. Stratigraphy is also one of the principles of its methodology, which considers space as composed of various layers, and extracts the layers formed throughout time from the depths of oblivion to study the space. The main goal of the study is discovering the degree of reference and imaginary nature of Karbala’s climate described in drawings. Is Karbala’s climate in drawings in interaction with what is in reality? Has the artist made use of the capacities of the layers forming the climate to give identity to the space and the artist? This study is a developmental-promotive one as far as the goal is concerned, and uses an inductive and descriptive-analytical method to achieve its goal. The results show that the relationship between Karbala’s climate and its representation is a homotypic consensus, but the artist uses his imagination and, in some works, uses multi-locational incorporation to create a climate that reveals a dialectic relationship between the real and the imaginary space.