Calligraphy Gallery – Arabigraphy

I am a walnut tree in Gülhane Park*. My leaves are my eyes, and I am shocked at what I see.

Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963)

The calligraphy features lines 2 and 11 from a poem titled Ceviz Ağacı (The Walnut Tree) written on 01 July 1957.

1957 was a year of political tension in Turkey. The ruling party of the time limited press freedom and imposed restrictions on public assembly for several months. More than six decades later, the freedom of the press in Turkey is gravely undermined. The current authoritarian government has captured the media and scores of journalists are either in jail or exile.

*Gülhane is a historical park in Istanbul.

English translation by Richard McKane
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

The water falls asleep and dreams of being stripped of tears!

Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958)

From a poem titled “Generalife” dedicated by Juan Ramón Jiménez to Lorca’s sister Isabel. Isabel and Federico García Lorca had accompanied Jiménez to the Alhambra Palace when he visited Granada in summer 1924.

English translation by Christopher Maurer
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

From Alma Ausente (the soul is absent) by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)

Tardará mucho tiempo en nacer, si es que nace,
un andaluz tan claro, tan rico de aventura.
Yo canto su elegancia con palabras que gimen
y recuerdo una brisa triste por los olivos.

It will be a long time before there is born, if ever, an Andalusian so distinguished and rich in adventure. I sing of his elegance in words that moan, and remember a sad breeze among the olive-trees.

This is one of several poems Lorca wrote lamenting the death of his friend Ignacio Sánchez Mejías in a bull-fight in 1934. I find it a befitting elegy for the poet himself who was murdered by Franco’s fascists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

English translation by J.M. Cohen
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Four verses from a poem titled The Abode by Iraqi-British poet Salah Niazi

But whence comes the mysterious wailing?
How a buzzing silence lurks in the instrument of music,
The waters flow, but I hear something of thirst in the waves.
The air blows, why is it hard to breathe?

English translation by Salah Niazi
This calligraphic work commemorates thirty years since the 1991 Gulf War

And the marble, so bare, so white, not waiting for the statue.

Yannis Ritsos (1909-99)

From: Yannis Ritsos – Selected Poems
English translation by Nikos Stangos
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Hommage to Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-75)

“Come i poveri povero, mi attacco
come loro a umilianti speranze,
come loro per vivere mi batto
ogni giorno.”

Poor as the poor I cling, like them, to humiliating hopes; like them, each day I nearly kill myself just to live.

From: Le ceneri di Gramsci (The Ashes of Gramsci) 1954
English translation by Norman MacAfee
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Poem 99 by Turkish poet Refik Durbaş (1944-2018)

The fire is in the attic of my skull,
the rain in the pupil of my eyes.
Go now, let me see to my death.

English translation by Feyyaz Kayacan Fergar
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

You took the lamp with you. The light stayed with me.

Dulce María Loynaz, Cuban poet (1902-1997)

Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

Martin Luther King Jr (1929-1968)

Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Il faudra un jour nous excuser auprès de la terre et nous retirer sur la pointe des pieds

Abdellatif Laâbi (Moroccan-French poet, 1942)
Ouvrons l’œil du cœur! [extrait]

One day we will have to apologize to the earth
and withdraw on the tips of our toes.

English translation by Patrick Lennon
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

No one is more deaf than he who does not want to listen.

Proverb

“ Your throne is a sword and your sword is falsehood.”

A verse by Egyptian poet Amal Dounqul (1940-1983)

This calligraphy work is addressing those who gathered in a Bahrain hotel trumpeting their pathetic “deal of the century”.

English translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Women: clouds raining tears.

A verse by Syrian poet Adonis (1930-)

This calligraphy work is dedicated to the Palestinian women in besieged Gaza.

English translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Enough lies

The spring of applause, is the shortest season.

Talat Sait Halman (1931-2014)

English translation by Talat Sait Halman
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

The horrors that the dark times inflicted upon you, have caused deep wounds in my heart.

Ahmed Shawqi (1868-1932)

This calligraphic work is dedicated to Syria

Oh all things we have done for our Fatherland! Some of us died, some delivered speeches.

Orhan Veli (1914-1950)

English translation by Fayyaz Kayacan Fergar
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

As loaves diminish, our hands grow.

Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca (1914-2008)

Dedicated to the hungry people of Yemen.

English translation by Talat Sait Halman
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

y por las calles la sangre de los niños corría simplemente , como sangre de niños.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

The blood of the children was seen in the streets, flowing easily out, in the habit of children.

This calligraphic work is dedicated to the innocent children of Yemen.

English translation by Ben Belitt
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Why go so far to kill? Why go so far to die?

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

English translation by Adam Feinstien
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Is there no other smell than fear in this town?

Refik Durbaş (1944-2018)

English translation by Feyyaz Kayacan Fergar
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Morning is white, evening is black, a grey sorrow in between.

Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016)

English translation by Karim Emami and Michael Beard
Arabic translation by Maher Jammu

This place, where you are right now, God circled on a map for you.

Hafiz Shirazi (1325-1389)

In memory of my brother KJ who was buried at Cimitero Flaminio, north Rome in 1996

Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.

Rigveda 1-89
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing about the dark times.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

From: Motto To The Svendborg Poems.
English translation by John Willett
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

The fool wonders; the wise man asks.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

venid a ver la sangre por las calles, venid a ver, la sangre por las calles, venid a ver la sangre, por las calles.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

Come and see the blood in the streets, come and see, the blood in the streets, come and see the blood, in the streets.

This large calligraphy piece is dedicated to the memory of all innocent victims of terrorism around the world.

English translation by Nathaniel Tarn
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Mi porteranno gli anni chissà quali altri orrori, ma ti sentivo accanto, m’avresti consolato.

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970)

Who knows what other horrors the coming years might bring me, but I feel you by my side, consoling me.

This calligraphic work is dedicated to the memory of my mother.
English and Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Oppressors cannot be free.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

To be or not to be: that is the question.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.
Arabic translation by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

sei ne la terra fredda, sei ne la terra negra; ne il sol più ti rallegra, ne ti risveglia amor.

Giosue Carducci (1835-1907)

You are in the cold earth, you are in the black earth, nor does the sun any longer delight, nor can love wake you.

Calligraphy compositions of the last four verses of Pianto Antico (ancient lament) with the hand written Arabic translation.

English translation by George Kay
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra, trafitto da un raggio di sole: ed è subito sera.

Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968)

Each one stands alone on the heart of the earth, pierced through by a ray of sunlight: and in no time it’s evening.

English translation by George Kay
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

When I went to Shiraz in May, I forgot where I came from.

This homage to Shiraz is dedicated to Nasrin.
Arabic text inspired by Sa’adi Shirazi (1210-1291)

Portami il girasole impazzito di luce.

Eugenio Montale (1896-1981)

Bring me the sunflower maddened with light.

This calligraphic work celebrates my 40 years of love for Rome.

English translation by George Kay
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

If I am a voice, you are my song.

From the Sanskrit tradition.
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Can’t you see how the land is furious and the pebbles are trembling with anxiety?

Abu Tammam (d.846)

This calligraphic work is inspired by events in Syria 2011.

Özgürlüğün geldiği gün, o gün ölmek yasak.

Cemal Sureya (1931-1990)

The day of the coming of freedom: on that day it is forbidden to die.

English translation by Feyyaz Kayacan Fergar
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Cerca de mí no hay mas que lejanías.

Antonio Porchia (1886-1968)

Near me nothing but distances.

English translation by W.S. Merwin
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273)

This calligraphic work is dedicated to the memory of my father.

English translation by Coleman Barks
Arabic translation by Mustafa Ja’far

Tra un fiore colto e l’altro donato, l’inesprimibile nulla.

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970)

Between a flower picked and another gifted, an inexplicable nothingness.

Arabic translation by Adel El-Siwi

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