Signs of Our Times surveys six decades of a trend – the use of words and letters in art – led by artists from the Arab world and Iran. The publication considers the work of over 40 key artists, Farhad Ahrarnia and Maliheh Afnan among them, that range from those who pioneered the calligraphic movement in the 1950s to those who use the written word in their work today.
The tome features a foreward contributed by Hans Ulrich Obrist, a contextualization of the movement and its relationship to lettrism in Europe by Venetia Porter, and a concise overview of 60 years of the art movement in the Arab countries and Iran by Rose Issa.
The main part of Signs of Our Times is divided into three sections, each devoted to a different generation of artists, with each artist entry including a succinct biography and a statement from the artist about their work. The book concludes with a timeline by Juliet Cestar that highlights major cultural and historical events in the Middle East during the last 60 years.
Signs of our Times is available for purchase through Merrell Publishing in London.
