Mostly appreciated as a prestigious artistic activity, calligraphy is nonetheless an everyday and popular practice. To know that, you just have to look at decorated trucks and cars running along streets and roads in the Arab world.
A recent study in sociology paid attention to that phenomenon in Jordan, something Arab graphic designers have done long before.
There is a long list of incredibly interesting internet sites and everybody interested in modern Arab culture has to pay a visit to it (see the French version for the links).
Better than anything else, modern graphic designers make obvious the inanity (insanity?) of the (classical) opposition between “tradition” and “authenticity”. They give the best possible example of a “tradition” – that of calligraphy – truly inherited because it a living practice which uses today’s facilities.
Illustration : Wael Morkos, www.theplacedesign.com.
To read the original and more detailed post in french, just a click here!
