Letter Play
Author: Greta Khoury
Linda Matar
In an interview, writer Jean Said Makdisi spoke about Matar’s unique experience: “Unlike her contemporaries, Matar was a feminist who came from the factories. She had a different socialisation. She knew about feminist theorists like Simone de Beauvoir, though she did not necessarily read them in her time; her feminist stance was grounded in her experience as a working woman.”
Afifa Karam
A layout for and about Afīfa Karam
I’m reading: “Karam founded the first Arabic women’s journals outside of the Arab world, al-Imrā’a al-Sūriyya (The Syrian Woman) and al-‘Ālam al-Jadīd al-Nisā’ī (The New World: A Ladies’ Monthly Arabic Magazine), both of which circulated internationally.
In addition to publishing some of the first Arabic novels in existence (predating by several years what is generally recognized as the “first Arabic novel,” Zaynab (1914) by Egyptian author Muhammad Husayn Haykal), Karam translated several novels from English to Arabic, including Nancy Stair (1904) by the Southern American woman author Elinor McCartney Lane (1864-1908). In her Arabic novels – published between 1906 and 1910 – Karam articulated a feminist politics that was far ahead of its time. She was fearless, pushing the limits of acceptability and risking the rejection of her family and community in order to express her ideals, to fight for the rights of women, and to make their voices heard.”
Morocco
Wings of Stone
Compositions – There’s something magnificent about feathers made of stone, the image is poetic and metaphoric. The moment of liberation from heavy stillness paused in time. Compositions on the theme of stone wings with experimentation in letter drawing.
I’m discovering a new thing
The poetry of memories
By means of visual allegories
The image of today for a tomorrow which will never come but how come this concept was built and sustained in our minds?
Arabic Blackletter
Pixel Glyphs
From ornate to pixelate – More letters from my imagination come to life on the drawing board
Typography II – Class
Miniature
These might not have classical or refined calligraphy but there’s another kind of sensibility towards the form of books as pocket or intimate objects, amulets of sorts. Writing the entire book by hand would have been an act of patience and dedication but we sense also a renewed freedom from the canons of the craft.
As I open the octogonal manuscript I read “وتخرج الميت من الحي”.
Extreme formats found at the American University of Beirut – Jafet Library Archives
Student Projects – Publication Course
Greta Khoury 