From Environment

Preserving the art of calligraphy in the face of limitless digital technology

  • 2019-09-13
Preserving the art of calligraphy in the face of limitless digital technology

My name is Abdulrahman Darwesh Jafar; I am 73 years old. I have been practicing the art of calligraphy for the past 52 years.

I started this career towards the end of the 1950s when I was a student at Imam Qasim high school in Kirkuk.

In 1967, when Abdul Rahman Aref was president of Iraq, I was desperate to earn intermediate school  need of intermediate school certificate so that I would be appointed in a government job; so I went to Baghdad to participate in the ministerial exams and I came first among 421 participants.

I worked as a petition writer for many years in Kirkuk Court, and even when I was serving in the military they put me as a writer at the command headquarters.

In 1984, I opened my own place for calligraphy which I have been running until now. Technology has changed everything in our life. People now mostly depend on computers and smartphones; therefore the handwriting of the majority is not legible.

I used my brush pen and my talent to rewrite poems of renowned poets, including Asiri, al-Sabri and Yousif Zangana.

I plan to keep this passion and never give up the art of calligraphy.

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