The Printing Museum will commission a public mural project “Changing Language, Changing Worlds” for the exterior of its building located at 1324 W Clay St in Houston. This project is planned in conjunction with the exhibition “Contemporary Arabic Graffiti and Lettering: Photographs of a Visual Revolution”, on extended view at The Printing Museum from March 13, 2014 through September 13, 2014. Curated by Keelin Burrows and inspired from the 2011 publication “Arabic Graffiti” written by Don Stone Karl and Pascal Zoghbi, the exhibition of 30 photographs examines how contemporary Arabic graffiti artists, mostly from Middle Eastern descent, are reviving and reinterpreting Arabic letter forms into a new graphic style, creating lettering and typography that is becoming a part of an increasingly globalized design field and practice.

This project will allow the museum to engage Lebanese graphic artist, Pascal Zoghbi (co-author of the book that inspired the exhibition), to design with local graffiti artist, DUAL, a graphic mural for the museum’s exterior that will incorporate Arabic script, calligraphy, and/or digital font-types. Textual components of the mural will also be translated into English. Zoghbi will partner with DUAL to complete the design, creating a dialogue amongst artists of different ethnicities and nationalities, as well as different artistic backgrounds. This project, while serving to bridge communities, will also serve to bridge the divide between languages, written and spoken. Finally, the mural is intended to engage and possibly even challenge the museums mission, which is promote, preserve, and share the knowledge of printed communication and art as the greatest contributors to the development of the civilized world and the continuing advancement of freedom and literacy.

“Changing Language, Changing Worlds” mural project is underwritten by Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA), which is supported by public, local, state, and federal agencies, as well as private contributors. Additional support is provided by the Arab-American Cultural and Community Center (ACC)of Houston, and the American Istitute of Graphic Artists, (AIGA) Houston. Major support for The Printing Museum operations and programming is provided by the Houston Endowment, Inc., The Wortham Foundation, Inc., The Brown Foundation, Inc., and Mid-America Arts Alliance. The Printing Museum is funded by grants from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Additional support is generously provided by the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, the Kinder Morgan Foundation, the Albert and Ethel Hersztein Foundation, CenterPoint Energy, Clampitt Paper, InfoVine Inc., Copy.Com, Spindletop Design, and Whole Foods Market.