An exhibition of concert posters, typefaces and other works of graphic design proves art is everywhere

The amazing thing about graphic design, according to Aga Khan Museum associate curator Bita Pourvash, is that it's far and away the most accessible form of visual art. Indeed, it's an art form that you couldn't avoid if you wanted to. It's everywhere.

"If you like art and you're an art lover, you go to the museums and you see statues, paintings, but graphic [design] is for everybody,"  she says. "No matter who you are, what you do, what's your profession, if you even like art or not, [it] is out there [for] you. So you don't need to go to art … you are experiencing this art around you without you knowing that you're exposed to art. That's what I love about graphic [design.]"

That's a big part of the reason she wanted to bring Inner Structures — Outer Rhythms, a travelling exhibition originally from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, to the Aga Khan in Toronto. The show highlights graphic design from the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. It has posters for music festivals, literary fairs and tech conferences, as well as pieces that are just word art for its own sake.

Pourvash points out that many of the pieces draw on other art forms — like music and poetry, both local and Western — for inspiration.

"When we talk about the art … from that region … poetry and music come into play in every aspect," she says.

She points to Egyptian artist Mariem Abutaleb as an example of this.

"She visits different regions in Egypt, and listens to the songs and people, for example, singing in weddings, or lullabies, or when they're doing different household chores," she says. "[She] collects all those songs, and then for each of the songs that she records, she creates a visual correspondence. Some of them are very soft. Some of them might look like… clapping. Some of them might look more like marching. So, basically, that rhythm that she hears in that song, she creates that visual way of showcasing them."

The region's traditional calligraphy also heavily influences its designers. She points to work by Tehran-based graphic design collective Studio Kargah as an example. Their poster for the annual gathering of the organization in charge of Iran's barcodes combines an 8-bit aesthetic, barcodes and traditional Persian rug designs.

"It shows that even though it [has] a functional element, it can still showcase the heritage and have that root in the tradition," Pourvash says. "So in creating that, by placing the codes, but also playing it in the format of a carpet design, and then including the fonts and scripts in it … he was able to bring that kind of conversation out in his work."

Another favourite example of Pourvash's is the work of Algerian-French artist and designer Acil Benamara.

"I love his works because he is Algerian-French and always dealing with being bilingual," she says. "So he creates this kind of new font system that is based on the same grid. So no matter if it's an Arabic letter or Latin, they're all designed based on the same grid."

Pourvash says that the work on display shows how artists and designers in the SWANA region are re-interpreting the area's long history of calligraphy and word art and combining them with other influences from around the world to create a distinct graphic design culture.

"As a museum, we always want to bridge tradition and talk about today," she says. "So I thought that those works are really great examples that can really showcase that. They are in wonderful conversation with our historic works … being so modern, and then showcasing the continuation of the creativity of the Muslim world."

Inner Structures — Outer Rhythms is on until April 19, 2026 at the Aga Khan Museum (77 Wynford Dr.) in North York, Ont.