The past, present and future of traditional arts in our words
Yushaa Abdullah is a pioneer. He is one of the first master calligraphers from Nigeria who brought the art, and support from Istanbul to the whole of the Black African Region. He is a man of many firsts. He is the first person in the African region to receive an Ijazah or diploma in Arabic calligraphy, studying under Turkish grandmaster Hasan Çelebi.
My objective is to discover new perspectives that the elegance of calligraphic forms, which was developed over many centuries to reach this level- could be presented in a more thoughtful context with a more sharp and bold statement. Talking more technically each letter is developed and crafted in a specific shape or direction that was the thing I like to show in my work.
I believe art has a purpose, art is something that serves and empowers people. For my street art murals, I am very selective about the messages I write. When people see my messages I want people to take away something from it, maybe a glimpse of hope, that is worth it for me. Being a street and light artist means I have the opportunity to reach a lot of people. I want people to feel my art.
My teachers have taught me that success in calligraphy is absolutely related and connected to their being, soul and character. So, it was a very important lesson for me to work on myself and then my art. Because the art in any domain, if it not the real reflection of the artist, cannot communicate and transfer to the audience’s souls or to other arts.
Practicing calligraphy in the UK has required a lot of adaptation for many reasons; firstly, it is quite difficult to reflect the traditional ways where a student would go out in search for a teacher and stay in his /her Suhbat (companionship) for a number of years devoting himself/herself to that field. Similarly, the essence of a calligrapher is their materials..
I have been doing graffiti since my teens, so as I came across Islamic art and Islamic Calligraphy it really captivated me. I looked at how the master calligraphers played with the structure of the letters, stretching, and bending the forms. I automatically saw the correlation with what I was, or should I say, what we were, doing as graffiti artist with the latin script
Spending years studying Arabic, living and working in the Middle East, I was familiar with the Arabic alphabet and calligraphy, but always figured that it was too hard to learn -- after all, even writing in Arabic was difficult for me, much less cultivating the patience and fortitude to master penmanship in another language. Especially since I am not artistically inclined, I balked at first.
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