An article on Iranian artist Golnaz Fathi.
Excerpt online full article in print.
“What attracted you to calligraphy? What about it do you find so expressive?
For discovering calligraphy, I am thankful to my father: one summer at the age of 14 he took me, my sister, and a few of our friends to the calligraphy association in Tehran for the two months of summer classes. His aim was that we would have nice handwriting and in future that would help us a lot if we wanted to get a job—he never knew that there would be computers and we won’t fill out the applications by hand to [need to] have this priority to have nice handwriting! I fell in love with calligraphy in the first section and I was the only one who continued it. For me it was purely a meditation; when I was practicing, I wasn’t in this world, my body was here but my soul somewhere else. This love was that strong that it made me continue professionally in the highest level. I think calligraphy is spiritual and mystical; it’s a kind of deep meditation which needs a lifetime practice.”
