The Artist

    Artist statement

    (Under re-construction, yet again!)

    Bio


    Joumana Medlej is an artist-scholar from Lebanon, working at the intersection of creation and research. After an early career in graphic design and illustration, she found her vocation for the Kufi scripts during the years she assisted master Samir Sayegh in his Beirut studio. She went on to specialise in this early calligraphic tradition, from which she derived the visual language of her contemporary art practice. She also forged an expertise in the art technology of the medieval Middle East. Having abandoned synthetic paints for the old ways of colour-making, Joumana prepares her own art materials using historical techniques, often foraging for supplies. She draws on her practitioner’s experience to translate medieval Arabic handbooks into English and bring the voices of past masters to a general audience.

    Joumana is now based in East London. Her work is found in private and public collections in Europe, the USA and the Middle East. She teaches Kufi calligraphy at the Arab British Centre and has given talks and demos about her work with historical art technology at Stanford, the School of Tradfitional Arts, the AUC and other institutions. She’s collaborated on educational projects with the Aga Khan Museum and the Goethe Institut, and has done work for the Royal Mint, Apple, Amnesty, BBC Arabic. She’s authored and published books on art technology (Inks & Paints of the Middle East, 2020; Wild Inks & Paints, 2021) and on forgotten aspects of the Arabic letters (Stories of Abjad, 2023).

    CV

    Joumana Medlej

    Born 1979 in Beirut, Lebanon.
    Lives and works in Oxford, UK.

    Education

    2013   Diploma in Traditional Arts from the School of Traditional Arts, London

    2007–2012   Assistant and apprentice to Master Samir Sayegh, Beirut, Lebanon

    1997-2001 BGD (Bachelors of Graphic Design), American University of Beirut, 2001

    Solo & TRIO Exhibitions

    2022   The Written Word, The Woolf Institute, Cambridge, UK

    2019   In So Many Words, Pictorem Gallery, London, UK

    2017  Art in Times of Crisis, The Crafts Center at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA

    2015   Lighting the Darkness, The Crypt Gallery, London, UK

    2012   Maktoob: Contemporary Calligraphy, Art Lounge, Maasser Beiteddine, Lebanon

    Selected group Exhibitions

    2025  [upcoming] Unfolding Events: Exploring Past and Present in Artists’ Books, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, USA

    2023  Highlights, Ithra Museum, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    2023  Through the Looking Glass, Swanfall Art, Mall Galleries, London, UK

    2023   Lebanon | Untitled, Janet Rady Fine Art x Artscoops, Cromwell Place, London (download catalogue), UK

    2023   The Future of Traditions, Writing Pictures: Contemporary Art from the Middle East, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London (download catalogue), UK

    2022–23   The Handmade Book, Stanford Libraries, USA

    2020    Works selected for the Sharjah Biennale 2020, UAE (cancelled due to the pandemic)

    2019–2025   Treasures of the British Library, The British Library, London, UK

    2018   The Society of Women Artists Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, UK

    2015   Signs, Traces and Calligraphy, Rose Issa Projects, Beirut, Lebanon

    2014   Great Lebanese Painters of the Jihad and Farouk Abillama Collection, Beirut, Lebanon

    2014   Fifth Summer Art Festival, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE

    2013–14   Kuwait’s Sixth International Islamic Arts Convention, Kuwait

    Collections

    • Special Collections, Merton College Library, Oxford University, UK
    • Yale University Haas Arts Library, New Haven, USA
    • VCU Libraries Special Collections and Archives, Richmond, USA
    • Princeton University Firestone Library Special Collections, Princeton, USA
    • The Psyche Collection, Paris, France
    • Harvard Fine Arts Library Special Collections, Cambridge, USA
    • Stanford Libraries Gunst Collection, Stanford, USA
    • Contemporary British Published Collections, The British Library, London, UK
    • The Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, Raleigh, USA
    • Gallery One, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
    • The Jihad and Farouk Abillama Collection, Beirut, Lebanon

    awards & Residencies

    2025   Distinguished Alumni Award, Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

    2024   Visiting Research Fellow in Creative Arts, Merton College, Oxford University, UK

    2023   Arteventura Art Residency, Aracena, Spain

    2017   Artist in Residence, The Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, Raleigh, USA

    Press & MEDIA

    LECTURES & talks

    2025    Circles of Time, Merton College, Oxford

    2024    Inks & Paints of the Abbasids, Merton College, Oxford

    2024   Art as Knowledge Keeper, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (starts around 5:19:00 in the video).

    2023    Translation through Praxis, demonstration-lecture for ‘Decoding Recipes’ conference, University of Sheffield

    2023   My Journey with Kufi: Freedom in Restriction, online lecture, Letterform Archive

    2023   The Art of Letting Go, keynote lecture for the Collegium ‘Uncertainty and the Handmade’, Stanford Libraries, USA

    2022   Al-Qalalusi’s Colour Palette, demonstration-lecture, School of Traditional Arts, London

    2021   Natural Dyes online lecture, American University of Cairo, Egypt

    2019   Artist Books Now, panel, British Library, London

    2017   Art in Times of Crisis, The Crafts Center at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA

    2016   Living With Mystery, panel, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London

    courses & workshops

    2025   Plants in the Qur’an & Plants That Wrote It, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Cambridge University

    2025   Secret Red: At the Heart of Safflower, workshop for ‘Material Culture in Global History’, Faculty of History, Oxford University

    2025   When Letters Were Numbers: The Abjad Numerals, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

    2024   Beyond the Letters, online workshop with VCUArts Qatar

    2024   Making Inks from Plants, Making Paints from Pigment, nine-day course, School of Calligraphy and Ornamentation, Fujairah, UAE

    2023   Magical Inks of Ghāyat al-Hakim, workshop for ‘Science & Craft’ conference, Warburg Institute, London

    2022   Inks & Paints of the Middle East, five-day course, School of Traditional Arts, London

    2022    Introduction to Manuscript Kufi, online workshop, Aga Khan Museum

    2022   Mentor for Circular Design Training Program, Goethe Institut

    2018   Calligraphy workshop for the opening of the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World, British Museum

    2017   Square Kufic workshop, The Crafts Center at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA

    2014–ongoing   Tutor in Kufi calligraphy and related techniques, The Arab-British Centre, London (see Courses)