Reclaim the Script: Painted Words and the Politics of Calligraphy

17/08/2025

14:00

Reclaim the Script: Painted Words and the Politics of Calligraphy

Free Calliigraphy Workshop

Reclaim the Script: Painted Words and the Politics of Calligraphy

Sunday 17th August, 2-4pm

Fusion Arts, 15 Park End Street Oxford, OX1 1HH

FREE, just drop in!

Book here https://fusionarts.artsvp.com/...

Workshop Description:

Join us for Reclaim the Script, a hands-on, creative, and reflective workshop exploring the beauty of calligraphy and the deeper meanings behind the scripts we use. With brush pens and watercolour tools, we’ll practice calligraphy in several scripts, including English, Arabic, and Urdu, as a way to reflect on how writing shapes identity. You’re invited to bring your own script, story, or cultural expression into the process.

As we paint, we’ll open up a conversation about language, memory, and resistance, and what it means to keep a script alive, especially in an age of mass technology and language erasure. Why do certain scripts fade while others remain dominant? What does it mean to write your name in a script that carries ancestral weight, political struggle, or diasporic longing?

Through prompts and open dialogue, we’ll reflect on how calligraphy isn’t just an art form but a powerful way to preserve culture, reclaim space, and honor linguistic diversity. Whether in South Asian truck art, mosque tiles, handwritten letters, or protest banners, script has always held power. This workshop invites you to explore that power with your own hands.

What’s Included:

No prior art experience or language knowledge needed.

Open to all ages, though children must be accompanied by an adult.

About the Facilitator:

Aisha is a student and researcher interested in health, storytelling, and cultural expression. She loves creating spaces where people can slow down, reflect, and share creativity together.

Why come?
This workshop is for anyone curious about art, language, identity, or cultural preservation, or who simply wants to spend an afternoon making something meaningful with their hands. Come solo or bring a friend. All are welcome! Drop in!

Hosted by Fusion Arts as part of our community arts program focused on social justice, cultural celebration, and collective creativity.

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Supporters of Fusion Arts

Oxford City Council Arts Council England National Lottery Funded Project Grant National Lottery Community Fund Oxfordshire Community Foundation Here for Culture Doris Field Charitable Trust BBC Children in Need Levelling Up South Oxfordshire District Council Christ Church College Jesus College