Nasser Al Salem

Holy Limits

Nasser Al Salem was born in 1984 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He spent most of his childhood within sight of the Ka‘bah and took calligraphy classes in the Haram Mosque. He also studied at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah and now lives and works as an architect in Jeddah. His practice as a calligrapher has developed in parallel with that career, and he obtained his ijazah certificate in 2012. Although his work is inspired by the Qur’an and the tenets of his faith, he pushes the boundaries of the traditional Islamic art form, reinventing it in unconventional mixed media and exploring its conceptual potential, applying it to texts that lie outside the mainstream and have personal resonance. 

Nasser Al Salem was born in 1984 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He spent most of his childhood within sight of the Ka‘bah and took calligraphy classes in the Haram Mosque. He also studied at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah and now lives and works as an architect in Jeddah. His practice as a calligrapher has developed in parallel with that career, and he obtained his ijazah certificate in 2012. Although his work is inspired by the Qur’an and the tenets of his faith, he pushes the boundaries of the traditional Islamic art form, reinventing it in unconventional mixed media and exploring its conceptual potential, applying it to texts that lie outside the mainstream and have personal resonance.