On March 9th I, together with Prof. Ida Zilio Grandi of Ca’ Foscari University, organised a workshop dedicated to the Arabic-Islamic calligraphy. The following invited speakers introduced the topic to the audience: prof. Andrea Brigaglia (Cape Town University, South Africa), Prof. Michele Petrone (Copenhagen University, Denmark), Prof. Aymon Kreil (Ghent University, Belgium) and Prof. Paolo Urizzi (Perennia Verba).
The workshop involving a numerous audience has been led by the Moroccan artist Sadik Haddari.
On this occasion, the Cini Foundation commissioned a handwritten Koran from the Nigerian calligrapher Ka’ana Umar.
This purchase enriches the Library’s heritage and above all contributes to preserving an artistic-craft expression that risks disappearing; consider in fact that Nigerian calligraphic art has been the target of the jihadist movement “Boko Haram” which has directed its brutal violence not only against the faithful of other religions but also against traditional Islam, its religious authorities and brotherhoods sufi.
Ka’ana Umar left her city to save her life and continues her work as a refugee.
The event was the issue of an article on the weekly publication “Il Venerdì di Repubblica” 23/03/2018
