It feels like forever since I started a new art piece in my studio. Back-breaking but so satisfying. It’s freezing today though, so I had to cut the day short. Now home pleasing myself by reorganizing my stash 🧶
#artinprogress #SquareKufic

More #SquareKufic in today's #Substack post: Walls that Speak, part 3
https://open.substack.com/pub/majnouna/p/walls-that-speak-part-3?r=1vppt8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

It's not too late to sign up to my #SquareKufic class, which kicks off Friday on Zoom and doesn't require prior knowledge of Arabic. Based on the tradition as it flourished in #Khorasan between the 13th and 16th centuries, we'll learn to work with multiple grids and how to get creative with the script without breaking it.

Details and sign up here:
https://www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/courses/square-kufic-calligraphy-with-joumana-medlej/
#IslamicArt #ArabicCalligraphy #OnlineCourse

Another throwback: WHO AM I, acrylic on paper, hand-cut, assembled on canvas.122x122x3 cm. 2014

The large blue word is Ana: me or I. But come closer and it dissolves into hundreds of other pronouns: he, she, they… (هو هما هم هي هما هن)
What “I” believed to be “me” is really an accumulation of elements from society, parents, friends etc that have buried my real nature. The question is, will peeling away all these pieces reveal something, or only a liberating emptiness?

#SquareKufic #MajnounaArt

Speaking of #SquareKufic, I'm teaching it online again starting February, no experience needed. More info and booking here: https://www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/courses/square-kufic-calligraphy-with-joumana-medlej/

#IslamicArt #ArabicCalligraphy #OnlineCourse

In last week's post I looked closely at Square Kufi walls again.

https://majnouna.substack.com/p/walls-that-speak-part-2

Tomorrow's piece will introduce a different kind of wall craft!

#SquareKufic #TraditionalArt #IslamicArt

New Caravanserai post! Where I'm testing a way to include extra content for paid subscribers, but welcome thoughts...
Walls That Speak, part 2 https://majnouna.substack.com/p/walls-that-speak-part-2
#IslamicArt #SquareKufic #perfection

I've just published a post about some of the #SquareKufic treasures I'm investigating...

https://majnouna.substack.com/p/walls-that-speak-part-1

Whew! Only took a full day to redraw this beauty. It's material for my upcoming #SquareKufic course but I'll also talk about it in my next Caravanserail substack.

#SquareKufic #IslamicArt #Iran

I sometimes make process videos for techniques I use or the making of entire pieces (forced into it, like many artists, by another algorithmic site). Right now I'm making a few small-scale editions of my piece Loss, with the same materials and techniques: cut paper, gold leaf and plant dyes that will fade in time. I'm having quite a lot of fun boiling up colour plants again to dye paper scraps.

https://vimeo.com/772109457

#ArtProcess #making #NaturalDye #SquareKufic #NaturalMaterials

In the same series:

ALL THINGS PASS AWAY زوال — #Silver leaf (tarnished) and #gold leaf on paper, 50x50cm.

Left: the piece when it was just completed a year ago, the silver left exposed. Right: Today, with advanced #tarnish.

#SquareKufic #AllThingsPass

I'll kick off this account by sharing a few recent #artworks. This piece is from a series that reflects on the #loss of our world and what may emerge from the ruins:
LOSS فقد — #PlantDyes, gold leaf and cut paper, 50x50 cm.
It was assembled a year ago (see last pic for fresh hues) and left exposed to sunlight: the fragile plant colours become muted and fade, but the genuine gold of the seed-like dots will endure and stand out all the more.
#SquareKufic #NaturalMaterials