من نحن
About
Decolonizing the Page: The Visual Politics and Poetics of Postcolonial Arabic books is a research project by Dr. Zeina Maasri (University of Bristol) investigating the visual culture of Arabic books during processes of decolonization.
The primary objective of this website is to draw attention to a remarkable, yet forgotten, era of Arabic book arts, better to appreciate the visual culture of modern Arabic books, spark interest and inspire further research.
The online exhibition brings together a digitized collection of around 250 books, contextualizing and enabling broad accessibility to little-known archives of Arab visual culture. The Library is a searchable database that documents artists’ contributions to books (eg. cover art, illustration, calligraphy and graphic design) conventionally omitted from bibliographic data of modern Arabic books in libraries. The Learning Hub supplements the exhibition with further scholarly insights about the books on display.
Designed with a non-specialist audience in mind, the website is intended to be enjoyed by anyone interested in the subject matter and can serve as a teaching resource across various courses and academic disciplines.
Archival collections and project partners
Decolonizing the Page largely draws from the private collections of Abboudi Bou Jawde (Al-Furat Bookshop, Beirut – Lebanon), renowned bibliophile and collector of Arabic print ephemera, with whom a long-standing partnership has been developing over many years to identify, collect, catalogue, and document illustrated Arabic books.
The research project has also benefitted from the British Library’s Arabic Collections and the expertise of its curator Daniel Lowe, as well as the archival collections of Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi (Azzawi Archives, London).
Team
Exhibition curator:
Zeina Maasri
Web design and Identity:
In the shade of a tree with Jana Traboulsi and Erik Hartin
Web development:
Erik Hartin (Not here to be liked)
Arabic graphic design consultant:
Translation from English to Arabic:
Rawan Ezzedine
Mahmoud Chreih
Image production:
Scope Ateliers, Lebanon
Data entry:
Jamal Al-Adas
Youmna Ghandour
Hussein Nassereddine
Photography:
Agop Kanledjian
Mohamad Al-Rifai
Project Advisors:
Hala Auji
Jeremy Aynsley
Su Lin Lewis
Jana Traboulsi
Acknowledgments
Decolonizing the Page was funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Fellowship, UK [grant number AH/W011190/1]; and supported by the University of Bristol.
Research in Lebanon was facilitated through a visiting scholar affiliation at the Beirut Urban Lab, American University of Beirut.
With thanks to: Howayda al-Harithy, Harriett Atkinson, Bob Brecher, Peter Dent, Sophie Demay, Mona Fawwaz, Mysa Kafil-Hussain, Samira Maasri, Louisa Mcmillan, Darren Newburry, Annebella Pollen, and Louise Purbrick.
In partnership with:
Decolonizing the Page © 2025
Except for images, this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Fair Dealing Disclaimer:
This online exhibition uses selected images from published books for non-commercial, educational purposes under the UK provisions of “fair dealing”.
The material is presented solely to illustrate historical, cultural, or artistic contexts, and to support research, commentary, and education. No commercial gain is derived from their use, and every effort has been made to include only brief excerpts that are relevant to the educational aims of this exhibit. Many of the books featured are out of print or published by companies that no longer exist. Nonetheless, we acknowledge that copyright remains with the original creators or their estates. Where known, full credit is given to authors and illustrators.
If you are a copyright holder and believe any content has been used inappropriately, please contact us at [decolonizingthepage [at] gmail [dot] com], and we will respond promptly.