Major figure of Arab modern art, Nja Mahdaoui (b. 1937) is a Tunisian multimedia visual artist. In 1967, he graduated from the Academy of Arts of Santa Andrea in Rome and the Ecole du Louvre in 1968. He pursued his academic training in Paris, at the Cité Internationale des Arts, on a scholarship from the Tunisian Government. He began exhibiting his work in 1959 and, after years of study and travel, returned to Tunisia in 1977, where he continues to live and work.
 
Recognized internationally and known as the choreographer of letters, he played a pioneering role in the development of calligraphic abstraction. Deeply rooted in the Arab-Islamic culture, Mahdaoui transcends Arabic calligraphy into a visual and abstract contemporary art form to create a universal platform for intercultural dialogue and shared consciousness.
 
He is interested above all in the morphology of the letter - «words restrict the meaning» - and its gestural possibilities. By freeing the letter from its linguistic and academic constraints, Mahdaoui explores the sign as a purely visual, musical, rhythmic, and poetic element, inviting us to an intuitive reading and a sensory experience.
 
Ever expanding his calligraphic language — based on what he refers to as free ‘calligrams’ or ‘graphemes’, emptied of any dialectical content — his singular approach allowed him to express the intrinsic, infinite aesthetic qualities of Arabic letters and continues to influence generations of artists.
 
Spanning over six decades, Mahdaoui’s relentless passion for research has driven him to experiment with an extraordinary breadth of media — from vellum, parchment, and papyrus to canvas, paper, sculpture, tapestry, textile, embroidery, ceramic, jewelry, metal, and stained steel glass. His boundless intellectual curiosity and contagious enthusiasm has led him to instigate many joint projects with poets, dancers, writers, singers and painters from different horizons.
 
He also produced monumental artworks and large-scale installations for major public spaces such as windows murals for Facebook new Menlo Park Headquarters in California (2018), the window façade of the ALECSO headquarters in Tunis (2015), KAUST University Campus Mosque in Saudi Arabia (2010), Gulf Air aircrafts (50th Anniversary, 2000), sculptures and tapestries in Jeddah and Riyadh airports (1981-84), Aramco head office in Dahran, and created many logos, designs and posters for theater plays, books, companies, and organizations such as Amnesty International in 1991…
 
In addition, he took part in Art Projects, introducing his work in performing art within the framework of theatre and dance. Performances of “Total Art“ and “Body-Writing: interactive communication between Arab and European artists, and artists from North America and Asia on the theme “Language and register in exchanges in visual arts“ in Tunisia, France, Italy, Denmark, Japan, Cuba, Canada, Germany and Jordan…
 
He takes part regularly in seminars and colloquia at universities in Tunisia and abroad and gives lectures. At the American University of Sharjah in 2007, in the AUD American University of Dubai in 2011 - ‘Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East - intersections of transdisciplinary practice and understanding’, and lately at CSUN California State University Northridge and at UCLA University of California, Los Angeles in 2011.
 
Nja has been Jury member and Honor guest at many international events and biennales (Sharjah International Arabic Calligraphy Biennial, UAE, 2006, The International Arts Biennial of Tehran, Iran, 2006, Abu Dhabi Art Festival in 1989…) and he was member of the International Jury of the Arts Prize of UNESCO from 1993 to 1995.
 
He has received a number of distinctions and international awards, such as the ‘Great prize for Arts and Letters’ from the Tunisian Ministry of culture in 2006 and the UNESCO great prize for Artcrafts in the Arab world in 2005.
 
Nja participated in numerous exhibitions worldwide including ‘Word into Art’ at the British Museum, ‘The Brush dances & the Ink Signs’ at the Hermitage Museum, ‘Perspectives: Arab & Iranian modern masters’ at the Saatchi Gallery, the ‘Arab Book Art’ at the ‘French National Library’ in Paris, only to mention a few.
 
His work has been widely exhibited in prestigious institutions across the MENA region, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and is held in many private and public collections including the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Institut du Monde Arabe, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the IAMM Kuala Lumpur, MACAM Tunis, the Sharjah Art Foundation, and the Barjeel Foundation, Farjam Foundation, Dalloul Foundation, and RAK Art Foundation.