Anyone interested in the new, in these often quiet and sometimes very loud moments in which change becomes visible, cannot avoid travelling outside the mainstream. It is precisely away from the forms of communication characterised by Latin script that the future can be found. For example, in the traveling exhibition "Inner Structures – Outer Rhythms", which presents a selection of graphic and typographic works from the SWANA region (Southwest Asia and North Africa). Dr Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès explains the exhibition and draws attention to the innovative approaches to the design of letters and typefaces in the various graphic design projects on display.
Born in Beirut, Dr Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès lives in the Netherlands and is the founding director of the Khatt Foundation and the publishing house Khatt Books in Amsterdam. The Khatt Foundation, Center for Arabic Typography, is a cultural foundation and design research centre dedicated to the promotion of design and typography in the Middle East, North Africa and the diaspora, and the development of cross-cultural creative networks. She holds degrees in graphic design and design history from Leiden University (PhD), Yale University (MFA) and Rhode Island School of Design (BFA). She specialises in typographic design research and Arabic design history and is the author of several seminal books on the subject. She works as an independent researcher, author, designer, curator and publisher. This includes the book "Arabic Typography", which has since become a standard work.