Calligraphy in Mauritania: Creating a Lost Identity

This paper focuses on the role of calligraphy in contemporary painting in Mauritania. I begin by outlining the history and contemporary status of Arabic calligraphy in this country, after which I trace the role of calligraphy in contemporary painting through the work of three artists, representing three generations since the inception of a modern art movement in the late 1950s. I argue that the use of calligraphy in contemporary painting reflects an exploration of changing conceptions of Mauritanian identity as situated between North and Sub-Saharan African, and between an Arab present and an Amazigh past.

Keywords: Amazigh ; Arabic ; Calligraphy ; Contemporary painting ; Hassaniyya ; Hurufiyya ; Maghrib ; Mauritania ; Modern art ; Nouakchott