Saba N. Maheen


I am a multimodal maker, thinker, and educator working with image, reproduction, & participation.  Artifacts may take form through designed experiences, queer data visualizations, and publication about alternate futures.  See select projects


  1. INTERCESSION
  2. Starlings : Leaflets
  3. On the QR
  4. Kuffiyeh/Shemagh 
  5. SUMUD
  6. Dreams for Liberation
  7. Poppy Seeds
  8. UNFOLDING
  9. Responding to a Genocide
  10. Iterativity in Processing

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©2024 Mag-Ex

P003 → On the QR Code


I was interested in the QR code as a physical-digital object, a portal bridging our print and cyber space.
   





The symbol can be simple and small, or complicated with many pixels while representing the same URL. A complicated QR can be obscured by a certain percentage before it becomes illegible.
  








The QR code can only be read by the computer’s eye.
I made a typeface of QR codes, arranged into a Snellen eye chart. 

The QR code is also anonymous, which brings up questions of security, and its ability for covert resource sharing.



The QR also looks remarkably like Kufic Arabic calligraphy. Seeing as different symbology can incite fear as a result of Islamophobia both post 9/11 (see case study) and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in 2023, I created an Arabic and English typeface, Mod QR, made of the same pixel as a QR code, that could be obscured within a QR code.
   
The QR codes lead to different resources in pursuit of Palestinian liberation. I’ve made them dynamic QRs, meaning I can change the URL in case the resource is scrubbed -  the printed object will never become obsolete. These clandestine QRs were acetone transfer printed on muslin and distributed to supporters to pin on clothing. 



I led a workshop on printing posters using my Mod QR typeface with Lego tiles.

 




I became entranced with QR codes, pixellation and obliteration. I saw it in everything. It looked awfully like the pattern of a kuffiyeh textile. Originally used for camoflage when worn en masse, the kuffiyeh scarf patterning represents ties to the sea, historical trade routes, and the olive tree. Inspired by Adam Harvey’s dazzle camouflage and Hyperface textile, I saw this as an opportunity to combine covert resource sharing and symbology, reconfiguring the center scarf pattern to a QR code. 

The QR-code Kuffiyeh can exist in different configurations, with different dynamic URLs. 



The first prototype of the QR-Kuffiyeh was screenprinted on muslin, then later digitially sublimation printed.