The history of the Arabic speaking peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) is complex—nested in various cultural, religious, social, political, technological and economic contexts. This Ramadan, Letterform Archive invites you to come celebrate the history of Arabic graphic design across borders with our docent Sabiha Basrai.There are a multitude of scripts in the SWANA region—more than 28 languages that use the Arabic script (Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, etc), and scripts like Tamazight, Hebrew, and Ge’ez, that showcase the rich cultural diversity of the region. This tour will focus on the diversity of Arabic calligraphic styles, and show examples of font development that required transforming a once handwritten art into movable type.

This tour will end at sunset and iftar snacks will be provided.

Sabiha Basrai is a co-owner of Design Action Collective—a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to serving social justice movements with art, graphic design, and web development. She is a Core Member of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, where she works with racial justice organizers on international solidarity campaigns. Sabiha is part of the Center for Political Education Advisory Board, a member of Race Forward’s Affiliate Training team, and a docent at the Letterform Archive focusing on global scripts and internationalism.