Angels & Demons Gala Premiere (Singapore) by Nayla Najwa

Hello! I want to tell you a story. A happy story because Ayah and Ibu were smiling a lot. And kissed me a lot, too.

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One day, Ayah received a plain envelope: He showed it to Ibu and me, and said 'Invitation to the Gala Premier'. Ibu smiled. I smiled too, because I love playing with papers. Tearing them. Ayah arranged the things in the envelope and took a photograph. (Ayah deliberately hid my envelope behind the other glossy papers.)On Saturday, Ayah and Ibu dressed nicely and Ibu put on lipsticks. I like seeing Ibu with lipsticks. I want to put on lipsticks too when I grow up. Pretty just like Ibu. Ayah put on his funny spectacles (matches his funny beard, heehee). I don't want to wear funny spectacles when I grow up.

At the Gala place, Ibu said every guest received a contest form with nagfa's (Ayah and Ibu)ambigrams:

The person who could read the four ambigrams could win a Sony Ericsson handphone. I want to win a handphone for Ayah but I cannot read, yet. But I can tear papers, though.
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Ibu said there were also bigger ambigrams to help the guests see better. The four persons in the picture will also rotate the big cards. Maybe to confuse the guests even more:

After the contest, and chatting with the guests while having light refreshments, Ayah and Ibu watched the 'Angels & Demons' movie. Ayah said the movie was good. But after Ibu gave me my envelope, I was engrossed with it. I only saw Ayah's funny beard move but I did not pay attention to him anymore.
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Report done by cute Nayla Najwa:

'Ayah' is Malay for Father / Daddy.
'Ibu' is Malay for Mother / Mommy.
.. and I love both!

Another opportunity presented itself. The published article on Today (please refer a quite recent post) was only part of Sony Picture's (Singapore) publicity for the Angels & Demons movie. They had roadshows at various malls, one particularly grand one at the new Iluma mall (Iluma: rather apt, don't you agree, since the 'villain' of the film is the 'Illuminati') and a round-the-island race a la Robert Langdon's own around Rome.

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For us Nagfa, we were entrusted to design four ambigrams relating to the story plotline. These four ambigrams would be later used as part of a contest during the Gala Premiere for the film itself. We proposed more than four.

Vittoria Vetra, the main (only?) female character in the film. This was not included in the final four, as understandably, the contest would be held prior to the screening and non-readers of the book (perhaps, readers, too, frankly) wouldn't be able to know the name.
(The conflict of) Science & Religion. We opted for a more inclusive '&' rather than 'or'. Included in final four.

Two versions of 'vatican'. Top version included in final four.

Two versions of 'Race Against Time'. Top version included in final four.

Two versions of 'Antimatter'. Top version included in final four.

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In our next post, we'll show how the ambigrams were used during the Singapore Gala Premiere of Angels & Demons.

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salam,

nagfa: Naguib & Fadilah (..and baby Nayla)

Nagfa in the national papers

A pleasant surprise greeted us when we checked our email last month. As part of their publicity campaign to promote the Angels & Demons movie is Singapore, Sony Pictures invited us for an interview about - what else? - ambigrams. So we, Nagfa - Naguib and wife Fadilah - and baby Nayla in tow had the most pleasant of interviews at the Singapore Botanical Gardens.

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A few weeks later, the story was published in the Today paper (with our Gabriel-Lucifer ambigram) :

PLUS Friday May 8, 2009 TODAY

Local ambigram artists Nagfa urge you to take a second look at this art form May Seah may@mediacorp.com.sg

HAVE you ever wished for a better way to pass secret messages so your boss would have no incriminating evidence to use against you?

Ask the Illuminati, an ancient secret society that used ambigrams to avoid persecution from their enemies in the Catholic church. At least, that’s the legend author Dan Brown builds upon in his novel, Angels & Demons — now a movie starring Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon, a symbologist who must crack ambigram codes to save the world. Brown’s protagonist is named after John Langdon, the graphic artist who designed the ambigrams featured in the book.

An ambigram, or an inversion, is a graphical figure that spells out a word in its form as presented, and also in another direction or orientation. Naguib bin Ngadnan, a huge Dan Brown fan, is one who took up ambigram art after reading Angels and Demons. “I kept flipping the book upside down. It got me intrigued,” he told Today. “Most words can be turned into ambigrams. But some are more difficult than others, and some are virtually impossible. If you have an ‘I’ and you want to convert it into an ‘O’, it’d be very difficult.

“Different artists have different perception on ambigrams. John Langdon was into duality — everything exists because there is its opposite. Because I’m a Malay language teacher teaching in multiracial Singapore, I think perhaps the concept of duality could be about bilingualism. So some of my designs incorporate two words: One way it’s in English, turn it around, it’s in Malay.”

Naguib and his wife Fadilah bte Abdul Rahim formed Nagfa (an amalgamation of the first syllables of their names) and they’re two of a select few ambigram artists in Singapore. They first met about six years ago, while studying at the National Institute of Education. They designed ambigrams together, as gifts for their friends.

“I started to create ambigrams using (Fadilah’s) name. And our relationship, and the designs, evolved,” said Naguib.

“He’s always with plain paper and a pen,” said Fadilah, also a teacher. Yes, even when she was giving birth to their daughter, Nayla Najwa. “Two hours after she was born, I was already designing an ambigram,” Naguib said. “Our names, rotating into ‘mother’ and ‘father’.”

Now that’s dedication.

The couple have a blog where they sell their designs, and they also initiated the Nagfa Ambigram Competition, attracting participants from all over the world.

“We wanted the ambigram community to merge and interact,” Naguib said. “Every week we’d post one word and ask the artists to contribute solutions ... We even got John Langdon to post a challenge.”

He added: “Maybe ambigrams could become one of the mainstream forms of art. Like graffiti.” Visit http://nagfa.blogspot.com/ for more ambigram information. Angels and Demons hits the screens on May 14.

(Angels and ambigrams Word up ... side down (Top) Naguib with his wife Fadilah and daughter Nayla. (Bottom) An ambigram of the name ‘Gabriel-Lucifer’ by Nagfa.

Nice to meet you again, Constant Viewers, Friends. Hope to be reacquainted.

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It is with great remorse do we come again, with apologies and regrets.

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The irony is not lost that with our previous post - number 888, a natural numeral ambigram in itself - and the subject ambigram - public holiday - that we have had a very 'public holiday' of our own. Our absence in the virtual realm was simply due to our obligations as 'where's.the-diapers.what.to.do.she.feels.hot.she.wants.milk.again' new parents; Nayla Najwa will be 6 months young come Thursday.

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Many concerned friends had been asking about us, namely Alessandro, Fraga and Tom Banwell (who even started a thread on Flickr, thanks). We are heartened. We apologize profusely for the sudden - and mysterious - disappearance.

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During our absence, there were several ambigram-based projects which had kept us busy; some small scaled, some larger. Which we'll share with you, dear friends, in the coming weeks. One other matter: the Da Vinci NAC. We will be updating that within a week or so. We understand that many had contributed and are excited to see the submitted pieces. We promise to put this as our priority.
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Meantime, an ambigram done quite recently..
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The female physicist in Angels & Demons.

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salam,

nagfa: Naguib and Fadilah