The Children of Smokeless Fire

The story of the Cottingley Fairies begins with two young girls, Elsie and Frances, who in 1917 created cutout fairies and photographed them in a Yorkshire garden. Intended as a playful prank, their images drew widespread attention—most notably from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose fascination with spiritualism led him to uphold the photos as evidence of a hidden realm. These images became a cultural sensation. They captured the public’s imagination, reflecting humanity’s enduring fascination with unseen possibilities.

In Zakariya Al-Qazwini’s 13th-century manuscript The Wonders of Creation and the Oddities of Existence - one of the oldest and most comprehensive books on natural history -  supernatural beings named “Djinns” are depicted alongside animals and plants, illustrating an era when the earthly and the mystical coexisted. These illustrations underscore the fluid boundary between fact and faith, showing how medieval scholars combined empirical observations with spiritual dimensions.

From Edwardian Yorkshire to medieval Islamic contexts, The Children of Smokeless Fire continues this legacy, prompting viewers to examine the limits of the visible and invisible, reminding us that even in a world guided by science, there remains room for the unknown—a convergence of science, spirituality, and imagination. 

Monira Al Qadiri draws inspiration from this interplay between belief and scepticism by shifting focus from fairies to Qazwini’s Djinns—beings in Islamic theology said to formed from smokeless fire and live in an unseen parallel world. By placing Djinn cutouts in natural environments, she aims to spark the same sense of wonder as the Cottingley fairies originally did, reminding us that even in a realm of logic and empirical evidence, there is still space for mystery and magic.

Commissioned by Bradford City of Culture 2025