As polls approach, calligraphists lament loss of business

AMMAN — Before digital technology was introduced to Jordan in the early 2000s, local calligraphists used to wait impatiently for the elections season to make extra cash by tailoring their talents to candidates’ banners.

Today, all this has changed with the introduction of digital machines that replaced their efforts and patient with speedily produced graphics, almost pushing some out of business. 

“It used to take me over three weeks to draw a picture of a candidate, and it was not perfect,” said Issa Hayek.

Today, the 55-year-old added, “I sit and watch the machine do the entire job in less than an hour”.

Hayek, with over 35 years of experience in calligraphy, said he laments the changes but “has to cope with the latest technological advances”.

The new advanced machines cost around JD350,000, while regular machines are around JD20,000, Hayek told The Jordan Times.

“I cannot afford to buy a new machine because I will go out of business, so to stay in work I print at facilities that own these machines,” Hayek added.

But George Rizallah, who has worked in calligraphy for around 30 years, was less content with the  march of technology.

“The machines stole the spirit of calligraphy because everything became digital and no candidates are asking for our business anymore,” Rizallah told The Jordan Times.

He noted that the Greater Amman Municipality also tightened its grip on calligraphists and banned banners a few years ago because of “visual pollution”.

“We are losing heavily on all fronts.  We are pushed into retirement before our time,” Rizallah, 54, complained.

He said that he depends on a handful of clients who still “appreciate calligraphy and want certain products to be created by hand rather than by computer”.

For calligraphist Yousef Doleh, who has been in the business since 1977, working for candidates is “out of the question”.

“I refuse to do any work for candidates because they are not honest and they do not stand by their word,” Doleh told The Jordan Times.

But unlike Rizallah, Doleh finds the new machines a blessing.

“Thanks to the new technology and digital machines, I do not have to go through long hours and weeks of hard work to produce any work related to calligraphy,” Doleh said.

Everything is produced perfectly “in less than an hour.  So what else can I ask for?  It is perfect for me”.