Mariam Lodin is a Maryland based multidisciplinary artist focusing on traditional Islamic calligraphy. A northern Virginia native, Mariam began her artistic journey as a graffiti artist, completing murals around the globe, from New York to Lebanon. Her mural and commission work made its way from English to Arabic as she found a need to represent her heritage through the traditional art space of Islamic calligraphy. Beginning in 2003, a meeting with Chinese calligrapher Haji Noordeen Mi Gujiang shifted her interests from graffiti to more traditional methods of calligraphy. After sporadic lessons, she began her studies in the Turkish method of Islamic hatt (calligraphy) with the renowned master Hoca Mohamed Zakariya. Currently in the process of receiving her ijazah (or diploma), Mariam has worked with many artistic and educational institutions, such as The Smithsonian Institution, Qatar American Institute for Culture, Wolf Trap’s Center for the Performing Arts, The Phillips Collection, The Washingtonian, Roots: A Qalam Initiative, Scripts n’ Scribes, ICNA, ISNA, The Diyanet Center of America, and The American University.