Calligraphy is considered the quintessential art form of the Islamic world — Arabic letters decorate objects ranging from bowls to buildings. Numerous scripts have emerged over the centuries that serve a multitude of religious, political, social, and cultural functions. This course explores the variety and versatility of Islamic calligraphy and historical efforts to perfect and codify scripts and generate new forms.

Sana al Mor is a Lebanese photographer and filmmaker. She graduated from Beirut Arab University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Arabic Language and Literature. She joined the Al-Jazeera Training and Development Center and completed a training course in television journalism and as a press reporter. Later she took professional photography and Photoshop classes at the New York Institute of Photography. As a director, she completed her first short documentary „A Tawakul“ in 2012 in Istanbul, the same year the film was officially chosen at the Renaissance Film Festival in London. She also exhibited two sets of artistic photographs by participating in three exhibitions between Zurich and Basel in Switzerland. She is in the final stages of her second documentary „On the Edge of Waiting“.

© Olaf Brachem