No one can seek to renew their cultural roots without a keen awareness of their surroundings and environment, sharp acuity, the ability to reconsider life in its entirety, in addition to possessing intense creativity. These are the qualities that characterize Nja Mahdaoui’s work, which mesmerizes and fascinates each time he succeeds in generating his own self. With utmost mastery, Nja undertakes reconsideration of the faculty of Arab imagination which is in perpetual fulfilment. His works form strong links with his predecessors despite the passage of time and the unexpected transformations of the word.
Nja Mahdaoui chose to draw upon the Arabic letter—a wise choice, since the harf is the interface to both existence and the word. To write is to inscribe a sign that primarily aims to contribute to the process of reading. Yet writing is also a mean to engrave the sign and build a foundation to stand upon, allowing its roots to grow within the collective heritage. The letter has three functions: to be a sign, to preserve, and to bear witness. Here, we must remember that the revelation of the Holy Quran originated from the sign, a sign that carries existence within it and bears its own identity.
But with Nja Mahdaoui, the letter experiences a comprehensive renewal. It acquires a new pulse and surges beyond the frame (in every sense of the word), which, rather than confining it, contributes to its flow and expansion. By erupting from its roots, the letter breaks the conventional terms of meaning —not to destroy them, but to transcend them, as if to show that its mission has not ended yet and that it can undertake all kinds of assumptions.
Hence, the letter relinquishes its individual link to a fixed symbolic meaning, for it has become aware of its force and creative capacity to produce its own meaning. Not concerned with reproducing a pre-existing meaning, the letter undergoes an act of purification in a quest for new modes of expression.
From one work to another, Nja Mahdaoui brings to light his talent and dual skill in both caring for the human and creating meaning. Hence his exploration of resilient materials like paper, parchment, or metal, which, in his hands, come to life; and his attempt to capture the living body, so that the paining becomes a dance. The letter vanishes for the benefit of its own movement, which embraces all else while exploring the extent of its own possibilities. As the letter seeks transcendence, it acquires and generates life. In its process of emancipation, the letter grows into a universal instrument of liberation for every human being.
The distinctive feature of Nja Mahdaoui’s works is that they have not ended, and may never end, as there is never truly an end. In liberating the letter, Nja ensures his freedom and ours. Isn’t this the most beautiful gift he is offering us!