ArtDayME: Born in 1937, Tunis. Nja Mahdaoui lives and works in Tunisia.

In 1967, he graduated from the Academy of Arts of Santa Andrea in Rome and the Ecole du Louvre (Department of Oriental Antiquities) in 1968. He pursued his academic training in Paris, at the Cite Internationale des Arts, on a scholarship from the Tunisian Government.

He’s one of Tunisia's leading artists and a notable Arab contemporary artist.

Nja Mahdaoui is a visual artist who considers himself ‘an explorer of signs’ and has been described as a ‘choreographer of letters’.

His work inspired by Arabic calligraphy is remarkably innovative as the aesthetic dimension of letters brings forth a sense of the poetic - highly rhythmic - arresting us with its rich abstracts compositions. Famous for his meticulous work in ink on parchment, Mahdaoui stresses the visual impact of his compositions, devoided of actual textual meaning, which he refers to as 'calligrams' or ‘graphemes’.

Thus, the concept beyond the works reveals how the ideas are conveyed creatively through the artist choice of materials and medium : Canvas, vellum, papyrus, arches paper, silkscreen print, book, poster, design, sculpture, aluminium, brass, melamine, drum, textile, embroidery, tapestry, ceramic, wood, jewelry, stained steel glass, architecture, planes…

Mahdaoui created the external designs of four airplanes (one Boeing and three Airbuses) to mark the 50th anniversary of Gulf Air in 2000, which significantly increased his fame in the Arab world and internationally.

He has received a number of distinctions and international awards, such as the ‘Great prize for Arts and Letters’ from the Tunisian Ministry of culture in 2006 and the UNESCO great prize for Artcrafts in the Arab world in 2005.

His works has been widely shown around the world in GCC, Asia, America, Africa and Europe.

They are presented in international art fairs in Abu Dhabi Art, Art Dubai, Art Paris, Marrakech Art fair, Kunst, Zoom Art Fair, Art Asia Miami, Art Stage Singapour, India Art Summit, Scope Basel, Contemporary Istambul…

They can be found in many private and public collections such as the British Museum in London, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris, the National Gallery of Kuala Lumpur.