Announcing a new collaboration – online Arabic calligraphy workshop with Hatem Arafa (15 September – 2 October)

Collaborating with talented people in the creative industries is something I most enjoy about working across Islamic art history and video games. So I’m particularly excited for a new collaboration between talented calligrapher and designer Hatem Arafa, and the Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections, starting September 15th through October 2, 2024.

This collaboration arises in the same spirit as our work on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage (myself as an historian and art historian, and Arafa as the designer of the iconic crest and the in-game calligraphy used for the game’s skill trees). Although we each worked with Ubisoft independently and only became acquainted after the game was finished, our mutual desire to bring knowledge of Islamic art and history to wider audiences is very much aligned. In fact, I’ll be interviewing Hatem for the Digital Lab later this month, so stay tuned for more on that in due course.

If you’re interested in Arabic calligraphy, don’t miss this opportunity to take the workshop with this gifted artist and designer!

It’s hosted by the Digital Lab on Zoom, which I hope will allow more people to participate than if we’d held the workshop in person in Edinburgh.

Details and registration for the workshop are available here.

If you’d like to hear more from me, including about my work in the Digital Lab, get on my community list below:

April update: taking my video games work to Madrid and Córdoba!

This month has been so busy with travel, and I’ve had a wonderful time speaking with old and new friends in Spain.

At Casa Árabe in Madrid and Córdoba. I’ve admired their work for many years so it was a real pleasure to be invited to share my Digital Lab ongoing work with colleagues, students, and the public there.

If you follow me on social media you’ll find links to more, including a link to the radio interview featuring me and Dr. Blanco …

Photo with Rafael Blanco of Universidad de Córdoba and Javier Rosón of Casa Árabe