Joumana Medlej is an artist-scholar from Lebanon, working at the intersection of creation and research. After an early career in graphic design and illustration, she found her vocation for the Kufi scripts during the years she assisted master Samir Sayegh in his Beirut studio. She went on to specialise in this early calligraphic tradition, from which she derives the visual language of her contemporary art practice. She also forged for herself an expertise in the art technology of the medieval Middle East. Having abandoned synthetic colours, Joumana prepares her own inks and paints based on historical methods and local foraging. Drawing on her practitioner’s experience, she translates medieval Arabic inkmaking handbooks into English to bring the voices of past masters to a general audience.
Joumana is now based in Oxford, UK. Her wall pieces and artist books can be found in private and public collections from California to the Middle East. She teaches Kufi calligraphy at the Arab British Centre and has lectured at Stanford University, Oxford, Cambridge, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the School of Traditionals Arts and other institutions. She’s collaborated on educational projects with the Aga Khan Museum and the Goethe Institut, and has done work for the Royal Mint, Apple, Amnesty, BBC Arabic. She’s authored and published books on art technology (Inks & Paints of the Islamic Golden Age 2026; Wild Inks & Paints, 2021) and on forgotten aspects of the Arabic script (Stories of Abjad, 2023).