Translated from Arabic.
Nja Mahdaoui, exhibition catalogue, Meem Gallery, 2007.
Not anyone may undertake renewing one’s own cultural roots. It requires an acute consciousness of one’s surroundings, a perpetual alertness, an ability to constantly rethink the fullness of life and an intense creativity. These are actually the qualities of the work of Nja Mahdaoui whose attention to his own regeneration continuously charms and delights. He, in fact, undertakes an enchanting and catching reconsideration of the whole Arab imagination which is in perpetual fulfilment. The works of Nja are truly strong links with ancestry notwithstanding the passage of time and the unforeseen turns of expression.
Nja Mahdaoui has therefore chosen to depend upon the Arab letter. The choice is judicious since the “harf” is, strictly speaking, the tangential edge of both speaking and being. To write is to inscribe a sign upon one’s medium, primarily for the purpose of contributing to the reading activity. But writing principally serves to engrave the sign and to allow it to take a stand then grow roots within the collective heritage. To mark, store and testify are hence the three functions of the letter, especially while recalling that the Koranic inspiration stems from the sign. It carries a being and maintains an identity.
But with Nja, the letter experiences a thorough renewal. It acquires a new impulse and overflows; jutting out of the frame (in all the meanings of the term) which, rather than constraining it, contributes to its outward surge. Bursting out of the roots, it breaks the traditional conventions of meaning not to destroy them but rather to transcend them; as if to show that its task has not ended and that it is capable of undertaking all kinds of assumptions. Hence the letter leaves its solitary link with the fixed coded meaning. It becomes aware of its strength and of its creative capacity to generate its own meaning. It is not concerned with reproducing an already set meaning. The letter is even invested with the majestic mission of promoting meaning in order to ensure its absolute assumption. Much more than the graphic beauty, what counts is its total and absolute rooting in a variety of shapes, colours and movements. It is thus an experience of exorcism and a quest of new modes of expression.
From one work to another, Nja brings to light his double skill of caring for the being and creating meaning. Hence this exploration using lifeless materials which acquire life: paper, parchment, metal and other materials. Hence also this attempt to take root in the living body itself, as drawing becomes dancing. The letter vanishes for the benefit of its own movement which embraces all else while exploring the extent of its own possibilities. While transcending, it acquires and generates life. In its emancipation process, the letter grows into a universal liberating instrument for all the living. His work is a powerful one which has not ended and would actually not end since there is no end, ever. In liberating the letter, Nja ensures his freedom and ours. Isn’t it the most wonderful offering he is making us?