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Steel holds its shape under heat. Wood shifts, expands and carries grain like memory. Ink accumulates in deliberate, repetitive strokes until time itself feels embedded in the page. For Zakriya Rabani, these components are more than just mediums. They are his collaborators.
In fall 2025, two works by Rabani, a Jacksonville University faculty member and director of fine arts operations, were featured in the Jax Contemporary Triennial at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville. Slow Burn, a large-scale sculpture composed of steel, wood and paint, marked the first major piece he constructed after relocating to Jacksonville. Alongside it, Flow System Drawing with Pen revealed a different kind of endurance: a dense surface built through meticulous mark-making, each line layered with intention.
The pen used to create the drawing was cast in bronze and exhibited with the piece, a quiet but powerful gesture that makes a disposable tool permanent. The act of making is preserved alongside the finished work.
To see what I have accomplished and where I’ ve come from makes me feel proud and driven to keep going,” Rabani says.
That balance between discipline and reflection shapes his work at JU. While some artists shy away from institutional structures, Rabani intentionally stepped into one.
“ I love being in the umbrella of an organization like a university,” he says.“ There are always so many great resources, insights to new
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