the Neirin

By exploring the dangerous and wide desert in the north-west of Africa, my explorer colleague and friend Michael Costantino and me discovered the till now uncharted folk of Neirin. A little tribe living in the middle of the Adara desert. They allowed us to learn something about their culture, religion and everyday life. An very interesting aspect of this folk is their use of script and the symbols they use to communicate. We hope with extensive research we will succeed to decipher their entire system of symbolism.

​

The Neirin is a calligraphy project based on the use of symbols and script in different cultures and its specific use. By taking the role of two explorers discovering an unknown tribe, my partner and I created an explorers-diary which shows symbols made up by objects and scenarios this people are surrounded by and which they use to communicated. Using symbols such as the sun, the moon and the sand-dunes the folk of Neirin passes on their information about sources, rituals, harvest times and so on to the next generations.