Bassam Freiha Art Foundation presents Nja Mahdaoui: The Choreographer of Letters, a landmark exhibition tracing more than six decades of artistic innovation. Recognised as a pioneer of calligraphic abstraction, Mahdaoui transforms the Arabic letter into a purely visual, rhythmic, and poetic form, creating an experience that transcends language and invites intuitive engagement.
The exhibition unfolds through a dialogue between chronology and theme, moving from Mahdaoui’s early experiments and the emergence of his distinctive visual language to his celebrated calligrams on vellum, where script becomes surface, rhythm, and meditation. It culminates with expansive works that push calligraphy into new dimensions of contemporary art, revealing its infinite aesthetic potential beyond linguistic or cultural boundaries.
At its core, this exhibitions celebrates Mahdaoui’s enduring exploration of the letter as a universal element, musical, visual, and resonant. Visitors are invited to encounter calligraphy not as text to be read but as presence to be felt, where line, gesture, and rhythm open a space for contemplation and dialogue.
Co-curated by Dr. Michaela Watrelot (BFAF) and Molka Mahdaoui, the exhibition also marks the launch of the first catalogue raisonné of a Tunisian artist, to be published by Rizzoli.
