Nancy Micklewright speaks about the life and work of calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya and his legacy. She is the editor of the recently published 'Mohamed Zakariya - A 21st century Master Calligrapher' (Fons Vitae 2022)
More on the book: fonsvitae.com/product/mohamed...
Nancy Micklewright writes about visual culture in the Ottoman Empire with a focus on gender, and is currently working on her new book, Dressing for the Camera, Fashion and Photography in the late Ottoman Empire. Through 2019 she was Head of Public and Scholarly Engagement at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. A former university professor and senior program officer at the Getty Foundation, she has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in the History of Islamic Art and Architecture.
Fons Vitae was given the opportunity to be the publisher of this ground-breaking book on Mohamed Zakariya , which beautifully introduces anyone outside of the field -into a rare, first-hand, intimate encounter with aspects of this sublime and unparalleled craft including some of its masters and their transmissions. We hear fascinating stories from the astounding lives of such men as Hezarfen (Master of a Thousand Arts) Ibrahim Edham Efendi, his student Necmeddin Okyay, Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi and others. We are transported into the traditional world of grinding pigments, making and marbling paper and cutting reed pens!
Mohamed Zakariya: A machinist by training, American-born Mohamed Zakariya is a classically educated Islamic calligrapher who earned diplomas in three calligraphic scripts from the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture in Istanbul. His work has been collected and displayed worldwide, including at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. Zakariya designed Eid holiday stamps for the U.S. Postal Service in 2001, 2009, 2011, and 2016. He has been featured in several movies, including the 2002 PBS documentary “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet” and an episode of the popular NatGeo television series, The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, screened in 2017, that was seen in 171 countries and translated into 45 languages.
Thanks to the Reed Society for Sacred Arts & Qatar America Institute for Culture for the wonderful Living Line, Living Legacy exhibit and symposium.
#art #arabiccalligraphy #islamiccalligraphy #islamicart #islamicartist