Khatt: Egypt's Calligraphic Landscape

by Basma Hamdy (Editor), Noha Zayed (Photographer)

Egyptian cities and villages abound with an enormous wealth of khatt, or calligraphic script, ranging from casual scrawls and scribbles to elaborately-painted colourful murals. These historical and contemporary versions of urban lettering, varying in surface, medium and technique, adorn mosques, shop-fronts, houses, trucks, boats, schools, tuk tuks and walls. They are records of human existence, documenting expressions of hope, fears, dreams and anxieties.

Featuring beautiful and unique examples of these written expressions, Khatt is an extensive visual documentation of the found typography and calligraphy in Egypt, a calligraphy hub that possesses a rich tradition of education and production in the field. This timely volume records the traditional craftsmanship of hand-painted calligraphy, which is in decline because of the digitization of the Arabic script.

Spanning cities across Egypt, and highlighting the history of language in the country and the progression into the Arabic script, Khatt is a rich visual source-book, vital for designers, artists and enthusiasts.

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 3, 2018

Reviews

[Rosalind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the calligraphy on the trucks and houses - the more complex ones nicely explained. The essay 'Scripting the modern on everyday objects' was hard to follow, could maybe have used some notes from the translator.