The origin of the Arabic language started way before the birth of Islam. Now, with over 400 million speakers, it is one of the six most spoken languages. Writing can be and is considered a prevalent symbol of supernatural and divine power. In Islamic tradition, the language and the structure of the letters and alphabet themselves symbolize the story of creation. There is a beautiful fusion between the art of aesthetics and text that has such an enriching and spiritual quality.
For this poster, the ‘Modern Standard Arabic’ or MSA was the chosen alphabet for the typographic poster. It is the literary standard and the one taught in school to foreign beginners.
Normally Arabic is written very elegantly and sharply. While living in Yemen I was introduced to the art of graffiti. I wanted to juxtapose the elegance with the graffiti I would see daily on every street wall. I chose to make it loud and show how this can be another form of showing the beauty of their alphabet.
