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Meet Farah Deeba, whose calligraphy is perfect to hang on your wall. When almost the entire world was under lockdown last year due to the outbreak of deadly COVID-19, Farah Deeba in north Kashmir’s Bandipora had an opportunity to realize her childhood dream of becoming a calligrapher.
With more time at home during the lockdown period, Farah would keep herself busy in writing Quranic verses on a calligraphy canvas.
She says with increased downtime during the lockdown she was able to hone her skills in calligraphy, as she would give more attention to it as compared to other home chores.
Farah says she has been doing calligraphy for the last more than two years, however, COVID-19 lockdown gave her enough time to hone her skills and work more on this creative art.
“I was inclined toward calligraphy since my childhood but due to lack of time and perhaps there was no one to guide me in this field so I could be able to work on it. But for the last more than two years I have dedicated more time toward this art,” she says.
Farah says she is doing Kufic calligraphy, which is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration.
Over the past few years, calligraphers have come out with the new style of writing called Kufic, which is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts. It consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script.
It developed from the Nabataeans of Iraq alphabet in the city of Kufa, from which its name is derived. The Kufic script is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation. There are many different versions of Kufic script, such as square Kufic, floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others.
Farah says she was about to learn this art from her friend whom she met online and she is in touch with her even today.
She says she had created a Facebook and Instagram page last year after being advised by her friend and she has been getting a good response to her art.
