Everitte Barbee

Education

Barbee earned his first degree, a Scottish MA in International Business with a Language (Arabic), from the University of Edinburgh between 2007 and 2011. During this time he studied Arabic at the University of Damascus in 2009 and spent an Erasmus semester in International Business at Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien in Austria in 2010. He began studying Arabic calligraphy in Damascus in 2009. Until 2017 he trained privately in the Diwani and Ruq’a scripts in Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul, under the masters Zeki Al Hashemi, Fadi Awaid and Adnan Farid. From 2022 to 2024 he studied traditional Byzantine icon painting under Abbot Ibrahim Nidaa at the Bechara Abou Mrad Melkite Monastery in Ballouneh, Lebanon.

Exhibitions

Barbee’s work has been shown in museums and galleries in more than a dozen countries across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the Americas. His solo exhibitions include ‘Rules and How They Are Broken’ at Agial Art Gallery, Beirut (2025), and ‘Entwined’ at Museo UNAV, Pamplona, Spain (2024). In 2014 he held three solo exhibitions: ‘Arabic Calligraphy’ at the Norton Center for the Arts, Centre College, Kentucky, ‘Arab American Calligraphy’ at the Barakat Foundation, Jeddah, and ‘Eternity for Now’ at Riwaq Art Space, Manama. Two years earlier, in 2012, he showed ‘Calligraphy by Everitte Barbee’ at the US Ambassador’s Residence in Awkar, Lebanon. His group exhibitions include Symposium International at the Institut Moderne du Liban, Fanar (2025), and the Dubai Khatt Festival at Khawla Art Gallery (2023). He also showed at the Second Khatt Festival at Arthaus, Beirut (2022), and in ‘Unity in Diversity’ at Dubai Opera and the Al Khatt Festival at St Nikolas Steps, Beirut (both 2021). Earlier group shows include ‘Art of Arabic Calligraphy’ at the US Consul’s Residence, Dubai (2019), ‘Calligraffiti’ at Street Art Gallery, Dubai (2014), and the International Calligraphy Festival at Mustapha Pacha Palace, Algiers (2013). He also took part in ‘Beirut Bloom’ at Arttheum (2013) and ‘Maktoob’ at Art Lounge Beit Eddine (2012). In 2011 he exhibited in the United Kingdom at Firefly International, Conway Hall, London, the Reels Festival at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, and ‘Save the Forest’ at AXO Gallery, Edinburgh.

Awards

Barbee received a Fulbright Cultural Grant in 2014 and again in 2019.

Artistic Style

Barbee’s work brings the classical traditions of Arabic calligraphy into conversation with sources from outside them. Using the Diwani and Kufic scripts, he builds letters into figures and images. His subjects draw on Western popular culture, American political imagery, sacred texts and classical philosophy. His recent training in Byzantine icon painting adds another traditional discipline to a practice that sits between cultures.

Additional Information

Barbee’s work is held in private and institutional collections around the world. These include collections associated with the princely families of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, among them the Khawla Foundation in Abu Dhabi and the Layyan Foundation in Saudi Arabia. Other holders include the Dalloul Art Foundation, the Sursock Palace Collection, the Abi Lama Family Collection, the Barakat Foundation and the US Embassy in Bahrain. He has given lectures at the Universidad de Navarra in 2024, on the legacy of Islam in Spanish art, and at the Lebanese American University in 2015, on Arabic calligraphy as a bridge between cultures. In 2014 he lectured at Centre College, Kentucky, and at the Royal University for Women in Bahrain. His work has been featured by L’Orient-Le Jour, Al Jazeera, Al Hurra TV, BBC Arabic, the Saudi Gazette, El País, Sky News Arabia and Reuters. He works from his atelier in Geitawi, Achrafieh, Beirut.