Akil Ahmad
A dedicated artist, Akil was born in 1988 in Syria. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine arts in Aleppo and currently lives in Beirut, Lebanon. His passion for Arabic calligraphy began at a very young age and to date he has held two solo exhibitions in Beirut: "Maqamat" and "Fi Hadrat Al-Harf" at Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture.
He has participated in several other exhibitions worldwide and his artworks can be found in private collections in Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, USA, Austria and Ireland.
Akil’s artworks are based on Arabic musical ‘Maqams’, which mean place or position, and converts them from their audio pattern to an optical pattern. He explains, "When I hear a voice inside of me, I try to hold all these moments of ecstasy and invert them into a letter, a word, an optical language.” Akil searches for an optical modern language for the letter. He is also interested in researching ink compositions and natural paper manufacturing.
In Dubai 2018, he was awarded the Al-Burda Prize, and participated in Sharjah Biennial 2016 "Noqta" in addition to Bahrain Art 2015 and most recently Beirut Art Fair 2017.
Solo Exhibitions:
• Solo exhibition in Dar Alfunoon gallery, kuwait 2018 (The Forty Maqamat of Love)
• Solo Interactive exhibition Culture ”في حضرة الحرف” In the Presence of the Letter at Dar El-Nimer for Arts 9/2017
• Solo exhibition in (maqamat) in souk althhab gallery - Solidere - Beirut -2017
• Solo exhibition in City Theatre, Nuha al-Radi Hall in Beirut, 2015.
Group Exhibitions:
• Participated in Art for Al Balad – A Charity Auction in Saudi Arabia , June 26 , 2019
• Participated in "Beirut Art Fair", 2017-2018
• Participated in the Annual Exhibition in Damascus for the years 2008, 2009 & 2010.
• Participated in international contemporary Beirut art fair in "Artheum" gallery, Beirut in 2014.
• Artistique Gallery Doha – Qatar
• Participated in the Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial, Sharjah United Arab Emirates since 2014 -2016-2018.
• Participated in a collective exhibition in "Art Space Hamra" gallery in 2015 Beirut
• Participated in "Art Fair, Bahrain", 2015.
• Participated in a collective exhibition at "Art on 56th" gallery.
• Participated in several exhibitions in Aleppo University and the Arab Heritage Institute.
Awards and Prizes:
• Fifth Prize Award-winner in Global Burda Award, 13th round, Dubai, 2016.
• First place in the 15th year of the annual Global Burda award
