Melbourne · working since 2012
Arabic calligraphy, calligraffiti,
murals and cut work.
Verses, families' names, mosque walls, shopfronts, furniture and classes — and, on every piece, the reason it looks the way it does.
Named in The Age · SBS News · Al Wasat
Work for Islamic Museum of Australia · Islamic Council of Victoria · Moreland City Council · ISRA Australia
السلام عليكم
Peace be upon you — written four times
The repetition of the greeting is to indicate that we should say it to each other whenever we meet and depart. The 4 is to represent the four seasons of the year, as this greeting should be given all year round.
The lettering is all interlocked and busy to represent our busy lives and our interaction with each other. In my travels I have found wherever I go the sky is the same. This represents that this greeting is a global greeting between all Muslims.
I could explain more and give Qur'an and Hadeeth reference but this post will get too long.
Shakeel Tariq, January 2019
Every piece has a reason.
Here there is room to say it.
I have been writing, cutting, spraying and building since 2012 — verses and hadith, families' names, mosque walls, shopfronts, furniture, and classes.
Why a verse is set in a circle, why a composition is left incomplete, why the letters in a greeting are interlocked: there is a reason each time, and I write it down.
This site was put together from thirteen years of his own posts. Each entry carries what the piece says, where it is from, what it is made of and how big it is — and, where he wrote one, the whole statement.
Commission a piece
A family's names, a couple's names, a verse, a wedding sign. Made to order since 2014.
A wall or a space
Mosques, schools, offices, cafés and homes. Painted on site, or cut and installed.
Book a workshop
Calligraphy, graffiti and woodwork in one class. Run for councils, schools and museums since 2014.
Where the work is
Named engagements, in date order. Every line is from a published source or Shakeel's own record of the job.
| Year | Place | Work |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | BeneHouse — Benevolence Australia | Calligraphy installed at their Melbourne house — named by Benevolence Australia, Aug 2018 |
| 2014 | Islamic Museum of Australia | Two 72,000-litre water tanks painted with the museum's motto — named in The Age, Feb 2014; SBS News, Mar 2014 |
| 2015 | Islamic Museum of Australia | Work shown in the 99 Names for 99 Days exhibition — front page, Al Wasat, Oct 2015 |
| 2016 | Desert Pea Islamic Institute, Adelaide | Full interior wall |
| 2016 | Moreland City Council | Calligraphy, graffiti and woodwork workshop, Coburg North |
| 2017 | State Library of Victoria | Painted at Salam Fest |
| 2018 | Islamic Council of Victoria | The stairwell to the women's prayer area — first of four engagements to 2020 |
| 2018 | Islamic Museum of Australia | A wall in the museum café — photographed and named by Dr Zuleyha Keskin, ISRA, Oct 2018 |
| 2018 | ISRA Australia | Workshops in Melbourne and Sydney; a two-day course followed in 2019 |
| 2019 | The Coal Pit, Melbourne | Interior mural, made with the staff |
| 2019 | Azman wan Helmi & associates, Terengganu | Painting installed in a law office |
| 2020 | LETTERFORM, Revolver Upstairs | Group exhibition of letterform practitioners |
| 2020 | Brunswick Mosque — ICMG | Calligraphy on the walls during the mosque's rebuild, 660 Sydney Road |
| 2020 | Preston Mosque | A wall of interlocked letterforms in teal |
| 2020 | Christchurch, New Zealand | Work shown in a Newshub report on the first anniversary of the mosque attacks — Newshub, Mar 2020; unconfirmed detail |
| 2021 | Daarul Arqam, Melbourne | A prayer hall — a lettered band around the walls |
| 2021 | PGCC, Doveton | Three walls across the hall and café, each translating itself |
| 2022 | Ilim College, Doveton | Full exterior wall — the third Ilim project since 2016 |
| 2023 | Heidelberg & Doncaster Mosques | Exterior and interior murals |
| 2023 | Dungun, Terengganu | A wall painted in a family home — a return to the state he worked in in 2019 |
| 2024 | Malaysia | A wall painted on site — one of several pieces made there |
| 2024 | Proactive Health, Campbellfield | Commission for a health clinic |
| 2024 | Arabic Language Centre Australia | Calligraphy workshop at Northcote Library |
Also: Ilim College Glenroy, Meadow Heights Masjid, Hume Islamic Youth Centre, Luna Park, Darul Ulum College of Victoria, and private clients in Adelaide, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Canada and New York.
My aim is to connect people to the Qur'an through my art, and hopefully through the Qur'an to Allah. Shakeel Tariq, December 2018