Exhibition
Becoming Words
A Joint Calligraphy Exhibition
October 15 - November 15, 2026
Exhibition location:
Research House for Asian Art
3217 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60608
Becoming Words brings together Japanese calligrapher Hekiun Oda and Iranian calligrapher and visual artist Bahman Panahi. Their works begin with the calligraphic traditions of East and West Asia and take them somewhere distinctly their own. Both are interested in what happens when a word becomes an experience rather than a symbol, when calligraphy moves beyond representation and begins to embody concepts.
Oda’s practice grows from Shodō, where brush, ink, body, and breath come together in a singular act. His work explores how written language can become a universal architecture of connection, while his engagement with natural phenomena transforms these words into states of movement, atmosphere, and presence. Panahi draws on the Persian tradition of Nastaliq, opening its forms toward abstraction, sound, and music. His concept of Musicalligraphy brings calligraphy and music into conversation, engaging words and ideas such as mehr—love, longing, and peace—not simply as subjects, but as ways of being.
Though their vocabularies and cultural lineages are distinct, both artists treat the word as a portal into experience. Love, rain, water, and music can all become conditions of experience. The calligraphic act does not simply write the word, but becomes it.
The exhibition is accompanied by live performances by both artists on the reception night, where calligraphy unfolds as a singular act, made in the moment and impossible to repeat. Additional artist talks and workshops will take place on separate dates throughout the exhibition.
This exhibition is made possible through a collaboration between the Seldon Institute and the Heritage Museum of Asian Art, supported by the Research House for Asian Art.
Program Series:
Opening Reception and Calligraphy Performance
October 16, 5 - 8 PM | $40
Research House for Asian Art
3217 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60608
Artist-led Tour During Open House Chicago
October 17, 1 - 3 PM | free
Research House for Asian Art
3217 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60608
Musicalligraphy: Immersive Workshop
October 18, 1 - 4 PM | General Admission $80 | With Valid Student ID $40
Seldon Institute
5659 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
October 18, 11 AM - 1 PM | free
Seldon Institute
5659 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
About the Artists
Photo : ©Golanz Gaeeni
Franco-Iranian artist Bahman Panahi was born in 1967. He holds a Ph.D. in music and musicology, he is a visual artist, calligrapher and musician.
From his early childhood, he has been sensitive to the calligraphies that punctuated his environment. His first calligraphic gesture was in the air, tracing a line in space. At a very young age, he understood that calligraphy is a living art, where gesture is combined with rhythm in the search for balance and a consonant harmony, seeking to sublimate sentences, words and letters, whilst revealing their melodic dimension. This poetic conception led him naturally to highlight the resonances of calligraphy and music. Inspired by these two artistic practices, he has made them his vocation. From his teenage years onwards, he devoted his studies to that purpose. He was instructed by the great Iranian masters. At the age of nineteen, he began teaching calligraphy; he became not only master calligrapher but also musician.
His studies took him to France, where he deepened his research and developed the concept of Musicalligraphy in his doctoral thesis at Sorbonne University. In his work, Bahman Panahi consistently endeavoured to bring out this conceptual dimension of calligraphy.
This artistic practice, comprising both traditional and abstract calligraphic compositions, has allowed him to travel: exhibitions, concerts, artistic performances around the world, exchanges with international artists have all waymarked Bahman Panahi’s life and have lent him international prominence.
At the same time, he continues to teach calligraphy. Throughout the world, he delivers courses, runs workshops and contributes to conferences in prestigious locations. In the wake of his teaching, a school of calligraphy has formed and developed informally, gathering together the students whom he has initiated.
Photo : ©Xiao Qin
Hekiun Oda is a Japanese calligraphy artist whose work treats each brushstroke as a singular, unrepeatable meeting of breath, body, ink, and spirit. Rooted in the classical tradition of shodō, his practice moves beyond writing to explore calligraphy as a visual language of mindfulness, peace, and human connection.
Born in Kobe, Japan, in 1963, Oda began studying calligraphy at age five under master Goun Katsura. He moved to Chicago in 1990 and has since shared Japanese calligraphy through exhibitions, live performances, and workshops. In 2009, he founded the Oda Calligraphy Association to teach calligraphy as both an art form and a meditative practice.
Oda’s recent work explores how written language can become a universal architecture of connection. In a cross-cultural calligraphic duet with a Persian calligrapher, he brings Japanese shodō into dialogue with Persian calligraphic traditions through shared ideas of movement, emotion, ink, and emptiness. His work has been exhibited and performed at the Japanese Culture Center of Chicago, McHenry County College, and the Heritage Museum of Asian Art, among other venues.
Upcoming Events
Becoming Words: Opening Reception and PerformanceFri, Oct 16The Research House for Asian Art
Becoming Words: Artist-Led TourSat, Oct 17The Research House for Asian Art
Musicalligraphy WorkshopSun, Oct 18Seldon Institute
Calligraphic DialoguesSat, Oct 24Seldon Institute
Works on View
Coming Soon...