NAYLA ROMANOS ILIYA, THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET
January, 2023 - EDITED BY ROSE ISSA PROJECTS
Having resided in numerous countries, and today living between Beirut and London, the Lebanese architect and artist Nayla Romanos Iliya interrogates various social and aesthetic issues as well as matters of identity and history. The Phoenician Alphabet features her deeply personal yet culturally responsive interpretations of the writing system of the ancient maritime civilization of Phoenicia. Simplifying the forms and idioms of this bygone alphabet – amongst the world’s oldest – the artist renders them into semi-abstract sculptures, ranging in scale from compact to monumental, using different media. In so doing, she has brought a vanished script to life in a singular poetic and optimistic vision.