Joumana Medlej

Joumana Medlej is an artist, author and educator from Lebanon, best known for her work with early Arabic calligraphy, from which her visual language is derived. After an early career in graphic design and illustration, her deep connection to this tradition was awakened during the years she assisted master Samir Sayegh in his Beirut studio. She also specialises in the art materials of that period: having abandoned store-bought paints for the old ways of natural colour-making, she prepares her own supplies using medieval techniques, and forages for pigments and dyes wherever she finds herself. She’s now drawing on her practitioner’s experience to translate Abbasid-era Arabic manuals into English and bring the voices of past masters to a general audience.

Joumana is now based in East London and works out of her Hackney Wick studio. Her work is found in private and public collections in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. She teaches Kufi calligraphy and inkmaking at the Arab British Centre, the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, and other institutions on request. She’s collaborated with the Aga Khan Museum and the Goethe Institute on educational projects, and has done work for the Royal Mint, Apple, Amnesty, BBC Arabic, and the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan. She’s the author of two books on art technology: Inks & Paints of the Middle East and Wild Inks & Paints.