Mouneer Al Shaarani (born 1952) is an internationally acclaimed Syrian artist, calligrapher, book designer, and writer with over five decades of experience. Widely recognized for his pioneering approach to contemporary Arabic calligraphy, Al Shaarani has played a significant role in reinterpreting traditional calligraphic forms through innovative and scholarly explorations of script, composition, and visual language.
He discovered his vocation at an early age while apprenticing with renowned Syrian calligrapher Badawi Al Dirany, before graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus in 1977.
Alongside his artistic practice, Al Shaarani served as a consultant for the International Arab Encyclopedia and has published numerous articles and educational texts on Arabic calligraphy and Arab Islamic art.
His work has been exhibited extensively across the Arab world, Europe, and the United States, and is held in major public and private collections, including the Museum Rietberg, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, the Museum of Islamic Art, the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, and the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art.