Fatima Azzahrae discussing her artworks with HRH Prince Charles
Fatima Azzahrae with Master Calligrapher and Illuminator Ayten Tiryaki
Fatima Azzahrae in her studio space in the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts

Fatima Azzahrae Chaabani

Visual Artist

Fatima Azzahrae Chaabani is a visual artist who specialises in traditional Islamic arts, and the art of illumination in particular.

With a profound passion for the power, symbolism and diversity of the sacred art of Quranic Illumination, she focuses on studying the historical and regional characteristics and variations of illuminated Quranic manuscripts. She analyses the ornaments from the Holy Qur’an pages and develops those patterns into large-scale paintings, which maintain the spirit of the different traditions as well as the underlying rules of Qur’anic illumination, in order to symbolise the higher or deeper dimension of the text. Her designs are inspired by the Quranic symbols of perfection and infinitude such as the solar roundel Shamsa and the palmette Shujayra, which she paints using genuine gold leaf and a traditional palette of hand-ground natural pigments.

Fatima Azzahrae holds a Master’s degree in Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts from the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London (2016-2018). She is trained in both Islamic and Mediaeval techniques of gold illumination. Her repertoire includes also calligraphy, Indian miniature, silk painting and geometry. Her artworks have been exhibited in Morocco, Turkey, the UK and China.

Prior to graduating from the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, Fatima Azzahrae had a multidisciplinary academic background and significant work experience in a range of demanding roles. She earned two BA degrees in Islamic Studies and Political Science respectively in 2003 and 2004 from Mohamed 5th University in Morocco, and an MA degree in Cultural Policy and Management from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK in 2009. She has worked for prestigious, world-class institutions including Yale University and Qatar Foundation for Education and Science, and she co-authored a book entitled “Cultural Policies in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia: An Introduction”

Her drive for achievement and her search for a meaningful career, concealed a long, spiritual quest for purpose, beauty and meaning. In 2014, whilst working for Qatar Foundation, she had her first active encounter with Islamic Arts by taking Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic Geometry classes in Virginia Commonwealth University of Arts in Qatar. From day one of the course, she realised that Islamic Art was what her soul was longing for. She then resigned her post at the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies and started a new spiritual journey as a student of Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts.

Fatima Azzahrae is currently based in Istanbul, for a one-year apprenticeship in Ottoman Illumination, under the tutorage of prominent Master Calligrapher and Illuminator, Ayten Tiryaki.

Publications:
https://amzn.to/2rk4ANy

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