Signs of Our Times

Venetia Porter and and artists Farhad Ahrarnia and Dia Batal join this discussion on calligraphy, Hurufiyya and Letterism examining the modernist and contemporary iterations of these art forms in Arab and Iranian art practices.

Venetia Porter is a curator at the British Museum responsible for the collection of Islamic art, in particular of the Arab World and Turkey as well as developing the collection of the modern and contemporary art of the Middle East. She was previously curator of Islamic coins in the Department of Coins and Medals. She was curator of the exhibition Hajj: Journey to the heart of Islam (2012).

Farhad Ahrarnia was born in 1971 in Iran, and resides in Shiraz and Sheffield.His multidisciplinary practice across a variety of mediums utilises craft traditions as a way of investigating and re-articulating the legacy of modernity and modernism in various geographies including those of Iran and the Middle East. His works are kept in numerous private and public collections, including: the British Museum, Museum of Western Australia in Perth, Los Angeles County Museum and Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford.

Dia Batal was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1978 where she studied design, before moving to London to complete her MA in Design and Critical Practice at Goldsmiths College. Her work has been shown in collective and solo exhibitions in Beirut, Manama, Amman, Paris, Liverpool and London. Batal has also worked on a number of community outreach projects for institutions such as British Museum, V&A, Iniva and The Mosaic Rooms amongst others. She is based in London.