Saturday, May 21, 2016

Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim

By Laurdy El Ghorayeb



My artwork is basically Calligraphy. My main idea was to apply a technique that I have learned through out this semester, and one of my favorite topics that I was taught in Islamic Art and Architecture was ‘ Introduction to Islam and Calligraphy’. I’ve always loved calligraphy, and since I’m majoring in interior design, I’m glad that I’m being able to apply the art of calligraphy in my designs and also in some courses that are not related to Interior Design. Calligraphy is found in many languages like Chinese and Japanese but since I’m Lebanese my favorite type of calligraphy is the Arabic Calligraphy. The Arabic language, and subsequently the art of calligraphy, is held in great esteem by Muslims because Arabic was the language in which the Qu’ran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. For Muslim calligraphers, the act of writing – particularly the act of writing the Qur’an or any portion of it – was (and still is for many) primarily a religious experience rather than an aesthetic one.

Arabic Calligraphers usually use the art of calligraphy to write a Quran quotation or a religious text and that’s why I chose to write the sentence Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim’ using the calligraphy technique. Calligraphy is found in all sizes, from colossal to minute, and in all media. But the most important examples are those produced on paper with a simple reed pen. In my artwork I used A3 paper, I wrote ‘Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim’ with a black marker and colored the background of my paper with grey color using pastel. My topic is ‘The Art of Calligraphy in Islam’. I want it to be simple and straight to the point, this topic best describes my artwork and the message behind it.
My statement is simple, I wanted to spread and show that art is not forbidden in Islam and there is so many artistic techniques used in Islam and calligraphy is my favorite. The way that I followed to spread my message is by writing an Islamic statement using calligraphy, since it has something to do with both Islam and calligraphy. Art of calligraphy is applied in several ways; it can be carved, on stained glass, textiles, metal work, light etc.


There are many famous calligraphers that inspire me with their work and talent like Nja Mahdaoui, Julien Breton, but the one that influenced me most in my artwork is Al Kabeer. I loved one of his artwork that was ‘Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim’ statement. Therefore, I chose to write it and design using my own artistic touch.

This is my artwork, which was done by me being inspired by Al KABEER. A lot of artists wrote this statement in several ways, using their own artistic way but since we’ve discussed about Al Kabeer in class, he was my inspiration. This is one of the most famous statements repeated in art of calligraphy because it represents the Islamic religion.

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