Sandberg Instituut Graduation Show 2022Work In Progress
Sandberg Instituut Graduation Show 2022 Work In Progress
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Disarming Design
Mohamed Gaber+
biography
Mohamed Gaber is a type designer and artist based in Amsterdam. His primary interest lies in the haptic nature of type production and its technological, philosophical, historical aspects. He has founded Kief Type Foundry, a type foundry specialising in open-source Arabic fonts, TypePlatform, a research space for under-represented writing systems focusing on Arabic script, and co-founded TypeLab at Sandberg Instituut.
Letterforms of Sorcery
Sudden death, undiagnosed psychological disorders, and unidentified illness are common features amongst the financially unfortunate lower class in Egypt, in the absence of an affordable health system. These fears surrounded my upbringing and created a fertile ground for anxiety. The mothers in my family relied on an alternative system to protect us. As part of a motherly practice, my mother and grandmothers have always relied on amulets, talismans rolls, and blessed water. It’s a practice that offers a feeling of safety as we navigate through the harsh realities of being raised in a poor, dangerous neighbourhood surrounded by all chances of harm. Before modern science brought vaccines, anti-venoms, and medical treatments for psychological disorders, Muslims have been drawn towards amulets and amuletic designs, healing bowls, blessed water, and talismanic shirts to protect individuals from visible and invisible harm. Such artefacts and objects have been helpful in protecting and healing. They emerged from spheres of elite knowledge, science, and art during the premodern period. The protective arts of Islam showcase the human urge to seek protection and healing through the visual arts and material objects in difficult times. While today these items tend to be classified as popular belief and even "superstition”. Through this installation, I am exploring the role of Arabic letterforms in bringing sorcery and healing power to an everyday object, questioning what gives a traditional artefact such power. The installation explores the rich and fertile history of letterforms beyond its traditionally known religious and decorative use. It challenges the modern belief that Arabic letterforms only gained their fame and intimate relationship with users only for its association with the Quran. Not to be seen as a replacement practice for the ban of illustration and iconography in Islam, but for its spiritual, philosophical, and artistic relationships.
graduates
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