1) Tell us about yourself and what drew you to Islamic Calligraphy.
My name is Muhd Hamizan Bin Begawan Mudim Hj Amran, im 30 yrs old. Just call me Zayn. Now, I am a Freelance Islamic Calligrapher. My passion towards Khat is so huge. During my childhood, I got first place in Khat competition at SOAS Mosque. Since then, my father acknowledge my talent and support me to grow my potential. So that things encourage me to drew my self into Islamic Calligraphy world.
I have diploma in Diploma Mushaf Arts from Restu College,Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia in 2015. I also have degree in Sarjana Muda Perguruan Ugama with Minor Pendidikan Seni Islam in 2020. I am doing bussiness on Islamic calligraphy since Jan 2016. I set up a home base business at Kg Rimba. Usually I join expo from event in Brunei.
2) Can you tell us more about your creative process?
I usually take a challenge from customer request which is I cannot predict what they want in terms of background design of the canvas. I manage to follow their request and produce many different ideas of background design. I idolized ideas from talented artist around the world through social medias like; Instagram and Google.
I make my own trademark of design theme for my self such as :
1. Winter In The Dark
2. Green Forest
3. Greyish Theme
4. Water Splash
5. Colorful Pastel
3) Who are your biggest calligraphy artist influences?
I have some calligrapher from Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia who inspire me:
In Brunei :
1. Ashraf Hj Ramli
2. Alum Shah
3. Hj Nazir
4. Hj Zamady
5. Riziman
Malaysia :
1. Nazmi
2. Fathiy Rosli
3. Hadi Syamsol
4. Dr Hj Abd Rahman
5. Ustaz Baki
Indonesia :
1. Teguh Prasati
2. Huda
4) In your works, what other art forms do you draw upon outside of the calligraphy world?
Im doing canvas painting for Calligraphy background.
5) How would you want to be remembered as an artist?
As a art person that motivated youth people to success in Islamic Calligraphy and I want them to find their true potential and capabilities. They can use it to make their journey to success more easy.
As one of the top Islamic calligrapher in Brunei. To become a professional Islamic Calligrapher.
6) Do you think today’s art of Islamic Calligraphy meets the expectations of the audience today and how should it progress?
They can be catogorized to 3 groups. One is pro calligrapher , Advanced Calligrapher and another one is Beginner Calligrapher.
Not all meets the standard of expection, especially from Beginner Calligrapher. They have to not rushing into making bussiness in Calligraphy. They have to train their skill first through intense training, find a good teacher to make a correction of their writing and after they become advanced calligrapher, then is the right time to start the bussiness.
For the pro calligrapher obviously they meet the standard quality in terms of writing, skills, knowledge and experience.
7) What are your hopes for the future of Islamic calligraphy and where do you see it heading?
1. I hope the improvement and quality Islamic calligraphy in Brunei will develop into same level as other nation such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
2. I hope Pusat Kesenian and Kaligrafi Yayasan will produce more pro calligrapher that coming from Youth people that have talent and potential to back up the current pro veteran Islamic Calligrapher.
3. Hopefully, JPI will make many tournaments and workshop about Islamic Calligraphy to encourage young people to participate.
4. JPI will make Subject Khat as a main KOKU in All Schools.
5. Every IPT must have their own Khat Club that active and willing to improve.
6. JPI will make a budget for scholarship to send the talented students in Islamic Calligrapher to overseas, to study about Islamic Calligraphy.
7. As in for now, what I see for the future, Islamic Calligraphy development in Brunei will improve but slowly if we still use the old pattern.