Collections Tour: Arabic Calligraphy and Font Development

The history of the Arabic speaking peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA)  are complex—nested in various cultural, social, political, technological and economic contexts. Colonial powers played tribal groups against each other, stole resources—including cultural artifacts and tore apart entire ethnic groups. So as formerly colonized or currently occupied spaces, graphic design has been heavily political with a revolutionary agenda, which represents the artifacts at the Letterform Archive.

There are a multitude of scripts in the SWANA region—more than 28 languages that use the Arabic script (Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, etc), and scripts like Tamazight, Hebrew, and Ge’ez, that showcase the rich cultural diversity of the region. This tour will focus on the diversity of Arabic calligraphic styles, and show examples of font development that required transforming a once handwritten art into movable type.

Our docent for this in-person tour is Sabiha Basrai.

This tour was made possible by a generous grant from Hauser & Wirth.

Sabiha Basrai is a co-owner of Design Action Collective—a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to serving social justice movements with art, graphic design, and web development. She is a Core Member of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, where she works with racial justice organizers on international solidarity campaigns. Sabiha is part of the Center for Political Education Advisory Board, a member of Race Forward's Affiliate Training team, and a docent at the Letterform Archive focusing on global scripts and internationalism.