(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, OCTOBER 31 - An Italian, Antonella Leoni,
is among nine guests of honor at the International biennial of
art and calligraphy ongoing in Cairo, in an officially
appreciated mix between Mediterranean cultures.
The Emilia native who resides in the Egyptian capital is the
first Italian to receive the award, exhibiting her work at a
show running until November 3 at the Palace of arts in Cairo.
Other ''guests of honor'', as reported by the website of the
event, hail from China, Tunisia, Jordan, Kuwait, Poland,
Lebanon, Algeria and Palestine. The work of artists from
Indonesia and Bangladesh, among others, is also exhibited.
Leoni has a degree in Oriental art from London's Royal
Holloway University, where she mainly focused on decorative art
of the Islamic world.
The artist, who creates abstract work with ancient techniques
on marbled paper, is working for a degree at the Academy of
Arabic calligraphy Bab El Luq in Cairo.
''God is beautiful and loves beauty'' is the text from a
hadith (a brief narration on things the Prophet has said and
done), which is elegantly decorated with arabesques, one of his
works exhibited at the Biennial.
In another, the artist traced ''Kaf HaYa 'Ain Sad'': ''These
are letters with which the first verse of the Sura of Maryam
starts of which we don't know the meaning'', the artist told
ANSAmed, referring to a chapter of the Koran.
''They are written on marbled paper'' and accompanied, among
other things, by ''white hearts in an abstract form to represent
the pure love of Maryam'', she added.
The art of calligraphy is particularly considered in Islam
and often defined as ''Islamic calligraphy''.
This edition of the Biennial is dedicated to the leading
member of Arabic calligraphy, Sayed Ibrahim, with 53 of his
works on display. (ANSAmed).