Khatt Chronicles

@khatt_chronicles is back with Season 5️⃣!! Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews American-Lebanese designer Wael Morcos. They start by talking about his educational journey in graphic design from Notre Dame University (NDU) in Lebanon to Rhode Island School fo Design (RISD) in the USA. They discuss the people and projects that have had an influence on his development as a graphic and type designer, leading to his founding of Studio Morcos Key (@morcoskey ) with his partner Jon Key in Brooklyn, New York. The conversation revolves around what it means to design in the diaspora versus when living in the culture for which one is designing, and what the pros and cons are for working bilingually and biculturally. They unpack Morcos' work as a type designer and his various collaborations with well-known Arab and American type designers, and go on to discuss his Arabic lettering workshops and various prestigious branding, exhibition and publication design projects for clients like the 2nd Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah (2025) (@islamicartsbiennale ), to his ongoing collaboration with the US-based Arab cultural foundation and magazine Mizna (@mizna_arabart ), to his Arabic logotype for the campaign of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani (@nycmayor @zohrankmamdani ). Among his many hats as a designer, Morcos maintains a commitment to Arab culture placing the Arabic script at the heart of his projects wherever and wherever possible. He also makes time to engage in pro-bono activist projects to support social and humanitarian causes, like fundraising for victims after the Beirut port explosion of 2020 with a design for a wool blanket. They discuss the growing design ecology in the Arab region and how it is an essential currency for the preservation and reinterpretation of cultural knowledge. They conclude with Morcos' plea for the need to encourage and advocate for more critical writing and debates on design amongst practicing designers from the region. Comment with "Khatt link" to receive a link to the full episode!

Revealing Recording Reflecting Book Launch at Hobb Bookshop in Dubai Venue: Hobb Design & Visual Culture Bookshop
Al Safa 1, Wasl Square, Block 4, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Date: Sunday 24 Nov 2024, 6—7pm (local time) Join us for a getting together and an informal presentation of this long-awaited and seminal publication on Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa. Meet the publisher, the editor, and the UAE-based designers featured in the book. The book has been described by Dr. Nada Shabout, Regents Professor of Art History, and Coordinator of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative at the University of North Texas as: “Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa is a unique intervention to further subvert the canon that has largely excluded the “other” from modern innovations. […] This book is an excellent addition to scholarship in the field of modern art and design in the Middle East, and gender and women studies, as well as global modernism. The project specifically fills a wide gap in the literature and information about Arab women designers and their contributions in the region and the larger context of design history.” The book has been produced with the generous support of the Khatt Foundation and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC). The book will be on sale at Hobb Design & Visual Culture Bookshop @hobb.ae And through the Khatt Books website(in the bio) Revealing Recording Reflecting
Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa Authors/Editors: Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares @khattfoundation , Yasmine Nachabe Taan @yastaan , Bahia Shehab @bahiashehab , Soukeina Hachem @soukeina.hachem Publisher: Khatt Books, Amsterdam, 2025 ISBN 978-94-90939-33-5 Edition: 640 p, ills colour, 15 x 20 cm, Hardback, English Price: €50,00

@yastaan interviews American-Lebanese illustrator and designer @sarahsaroufim , taking us through her educational journey first in graphic design at AUB, and how this led to her interest in illustration; then to her postgraduate studies in product design at Parsons School of Design in New York. Sarah discusses candidly her interests, struggles and doubts. She shares the fact that she has been interested in art and passionate about drawing since high school, but not until the end of her college years did she finally feel better at it and found her own voice in illustration. She discusses her creative process and how she needs the time to experiment and plan extensively before starting her drawings. She also discusses the dot-pattern illustrations and Arabic lettering that she created for a book published by @snoubarbayrout entitled Dammeh [hug], among other meaningful projects she enjoyed working on. She elaborates on her mainly black and white color palette, and her fascination with drawing patterns using her ballpoint pen that she always carried with her. Recently she started integrating grays, and other vivid colors in her design work. Sarah mentions a course she took at AUB with Lebanese graphic artist and illustrator @mazenkerbaj from which course she learned the importance of drawing every day (though she fails to apply this), as well as the importance of drawing every detail from scratch no matter how often it may be repeated in a composition. In her work she takes the hard way in order to feel that the outcome is of any worth. She discusses the economic reasons behind her switching from being a freelance illustrator to working in a design agency on full-time basis. To compensate for her struggle with ideas and the discipline of drawing every day, she designed an app called Drop for the iPad about daily drawing for her capstone project at Parsons. She shares her disillusionment with AI developments and the way the world is becoming less authentic. Sarah Saroufim is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: @khatt_books , 2024).

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Iranian visual artist @golnazfathi who starts by sharing her educational journey from her initial training as graphic designer and classical calligrapher, to reaching her her final goal of becoming a painter and visual artist. Golnaz explains her love for all kinds of written scripts; her fascination with their shapes, their ways of carrying meaning and emotions. She describes how she managed to merge all her learned creative skills and passions (scripts and painting) into the type of written art she has been creating for decades. She challenged herself to break the rules of calligraphy and write along musical rhythms, like a performer, capturing the essence of writing — writing the "unwritten" that expressed pure emotion. Golnaz talks about pushing boundaries, creating cultural bridges and inviting viewers to respond in individual and imaginative ways to her work. She describes her inspirations acquired through art books, and how certain abstract expressionist artists that have had an impact on her way of creating art. She candidly relays the challenges she faced in Iran in having access to modern and international art, and her joy the first time she encountered those artworks physically in a museum. She discusses how music, poetry, and dance are core elements in her work citing as example an exhibition centered around the poetry of the renown Syrian poet Nizar Kabbani. The conversation concludes with talking about her other passions for cooking, enjoying food, hosting friends, and much more. Golnaz Fathi is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book "Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa" (Amsterdam: @khatt_books , 2024).

@yastaan interviews Lebanese illustrator @hananekai who shares her journey from studying and working as a graphic designer to the moment she decided to concentrate on illustration work. They discuss her illustration career that began with sketching in the park, to online blogs and social media, eventually leading to award-winning commissioned work. They unpack issues related to her response to upsetting events, through personal political posters, some in collaboration with type designer @kristyansarkis . They also discuss her passion for children's books that she collects, diving into her work for children and young adults books. Hanane speaks about the challenges of illustrating children's books especially those addressing difficult social topics and mental health issues. Through the conversation they talk about the @bolognachildrensbookfair and the impact of a visit to this fair on her work as an illustrator, inspiring one of her most experimental and playful illustrated children's book. Hanane explains her process and the importance of research, as well as letting the content dictate the media and style of image-making. Hanane also talks about her latest project, an Arabic erotic dictionary, where she combines the human hand with Arabic letters, collaborating with dancers to capture the right gestures. She concludes this conversation by talking about her need for her projects to be challenging—projects that give her "something to push against" and make her "brain hurt a little." Hanane is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book "Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa" (Amsterdam: @khatt_books , 2024).

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Iranian-American visual artist golnar.adili on her journey from architecture to teaching and practicing visual arts. They discuss her work that transgresses borders and definition and how she uses the Perso-Arabic script and language as material for artistic exploration. Golnar talks about her love for science and art and how architecture brought these two passions together. She also discusses her first research trip to Tehran to investigate (free)inside/(controlled)outside spaces and what these notions represent in that particular cultural context, which was her starting point into becoming an artist. The research is concluded with a book of photographs entitled: "Tehran, A Landscape of Compressed Freedoms." Through the discussion, they unpack the relation between her work, her personal family history and experiences of living in diaspora, and her work as an artist and designer. They further explore these concepts in her other projects delving into her collage techniques and books arts projects. Golnar explains how her heart-language, Persian, plays a central role in her work, taking lyrical Persian poetry and making it contemporary through the design of the letterforms and the use of material. She discusses how gender has informed her work and how it compelled her to express small intimate stories of women (in her family) in her work. In her work she formally manipulates physical and visual material to convey emotions going by the Persian saying: "What comes from the heart, sits on the heart." The conversation is concluded with a brief talk about her teaching at both the @parsonsschoolofdesign (with college students) on one hand and children middle-schoolers on the other, and how her teaching assignments relate to her own work and explorations: straddling two and three dimensions, and exploring materials and techniques of image-making. Golnar Adili is one the visual artists and graphic women featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: @khatt_books 2024).

In this episode of @khatt_chronicles , @yastaan interviews Beirut-based, French-Lebanese illustrator @ahlan.my.darlings . They discuss Aude's educational and professional journey from starting in architecture into illustration and activism. Aude discusses her interest in narratives that address issues of belonging and the strife of migrants (women in particular). She also discusses her passion for projects that address justice and social issues, and her commissions and collaborations with various artists and organizations. Together they unpack her creative process, her creative commitments, and the challenges of making a living as an illustrator. Aude speaks about her collaboration with the architectural collectives representing Lebanon in the @venice.architecture.biennale , weaving stories of nature and politics. She expresses her concerns about not having enough time to execute her work properly, to reflect and explore at a slower pace. She concludes with stressing on the importance of collaboration and collective support within the creative community.

@bahiashehab delves into political engagement, the importance of portraying an authentic image of Arab/Islamic visual heritage in order to decolonize design history discourse. In this episode of @khatt_chronicles , @yarakhouryn interviews Cairo-based Lebanese designer and visual artist Bahia Shehab. They discuss Shehab's motivation and journey as a designer and educator, her influences and how her educational development has shaped her perspective on design. Shehab elaborates on her artistic practice, her academic research, and her publications: A Thousand Times No, Art the Corner of a Dream, You Can Crush the Flowers, History of Arab Graphic Design, Revealing Recording Reflecting, and an upcoming publication on vernacular culture and advertising. They discuss the challenges for knowledge creation and dissemination in the Arab world: starting with the obstacles that hinder collection, documentation, and preservation of material. They conclude the conversation with the idea that change comes in a collective effort of certain generation and time period, and that maybe this is the moment to establish an Arab graphic design museum in the region. Bahia Shehab was co-editor of the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: @Khatt_Books , 2024), and her work is also featured in it.

@yastaan interviews Beirut-based Syrian visual storyteller and illustrator @DimaNachawi whose multidisciplinary practice is connected to her Syrian roots through which she documents and advocates for social causes and injustices. They discuss her professional journey, education, and projects, and together unpack some of the political narratives behind Dima's projects, and discuss how humor can help circumvent censorship and oppression. Dima shares her passion for making people laugh, clowning, drawing, singing, performing, shadow puppetry, and street theater. They also discuss the importance of female figures with long flowing hair in her illustrations; how they symbolize homelands, freedom, strength, and resilience; and how they are often a part of the cityscape or of trees, rooted in nature, and holding their ground. Dima Nachawi's work is featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: @Khatt_Books , 2024). Out now on @khatt_chronicles ' YouTube channel and anywhere you get your podcasts.

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews Brussels-based, Syrian-Polish designer @kindaghannoum on @khatt_chronicles . They discuss her journey into the field of design, through practical work following her graduation with a degree in architecture from the University of Damascus. Kinda shares her travails as a self-taught graphic designer and her passion for the Arabic script, lettering and typography. The conversation centers around issues of preservation of identity while saddling two nationalities, and of providing educational resources to design students in #Syria and preserving Syrian design history, as well as what it means to be practicing in a diasporic context. A number of Kinda's remarkable projects are discussed starting with her seminal archival project, The @syriandesignarchive , that she set up with two friends – @sally_alassafen and @hala_alafsaa – in 2020 during her postgraduate studies in Belgium. Kinda also discusses some of her other significant projects where cultural advocacy and collaboration was at the core. What transpires from this conversation is an image of a courageous and dedicated woman designer that breaks any stereotypes of women from the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. Kinda's work is featured in the book "Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa" (Amsterdam: @Khatt_Books , 2024). Out now on YouTube and all podcasting platforms. #SyrianDesign