(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
By Raynald C Rivera
Changing the way people perceive the marginalised is a daunting task French-Tunisian artist eL Seed had set himself as he created a large scale ‘calligraffiti’ art piece within the Zaraeeb community known to many as the ‘garbage city’ of Cairo.
In his latest work eL Seed globally acclaimed for blending Arabic calligraphy with graffiti he calls ‘calligraffiti’ redirects the world’s attention to the Coptic community of Zaraeeb who for many years make both ends meet by collecting and recycling the daily garbage of Cairo.
Located in the neighbourhood of Mokkatam Mountain in Cairo the community make an honest living by collecting and sorting garbage by hand yet people look down on them. For eL Seed something has to be done in order for these people to regain the dignity they had lost in the eyes of others just because of poverty thus he embarked on a city-scale project called “Perception.”
“I was in search of something more meaningful to create something that people will talk about something that will have an impact that’s why I decided to go there and to create something that can change the perception on those people in that community” eL Seed told Doha Today.
Arguably the true essence of art lies in inspiring generations for its beauty but it becomes more meaningful when it effects change. eL Seed is one of the few street artists who has embarked into initiatives aimed more on conveying a message crucial to the society than simply producing artworks valued for their beauty.
Unique among all of eL Seed’s creations “Perception” is an anamorphic calligraffiti work which covers more than 50 buildings and can be read in its entirety from only one point on top of the Mokkatam Mountain.
‘Anyone who wants to see the light clearly needs to wipe his eyes first’ runs a line quoted from Athanasius the Great the 20th bishop of Alexandria who lived in the third to fourth century. The Arabic version of this line was aptly chosen by eL Seed for this work in his attempt to put his message across.
“In everything that I do I try to write something relevant to the place where the piece is located. The idea is to show that before you judge others you better clear the wrong idea you have about them” he explained.
“I wanted to explore the topic of perception. The place is where people live from garbage and when you think of garbage you think of dirtiness and poor people but people there are not poor actually but isolated. They don’t live in the garbage they live from the garbage. This is a chance to highlight the issue of misconceptions that we are facing around the world.”
After a year of planning and with the help of 21 people from around the world eL Seed completed the project which he himself funded in three weeks time.
“In terms of form and scale this is something that I have never done before. It is unique in that it is anamorphic which can only be seen from one specific vantage point.”
For eL Seed the making of the project was challenging as it was rewarding as he along with his team discovered many things about the life of the people living in the closely-knit community.
“The challenge was the scale of the piece. It’s a place where people recycle garbage. The smell of the garbage was bad but we forgot about it because of the way people welcomed us. The people treated us like a family and that made us forget about it. It was such an amazing human experience I won’t forget.”
eL Seed was humbled and at the same time proud to unveil the piece recently at the at the Global Art Forum at Art Dubai 2016. It will be showcased in a documentary at a later stage as well as published in a book and comic for children. He expressed high hopes that the project like his previous works would create an impact and generate attention to raise awareness on people from all walks of life. “I hope this will change the way people perceive them. I hope that the people of Cairo and everyone around the world will understand that they are a very important part of the society.”
Born to Tunisian parents in the suburbs of Paris eL Seed spent his formative years juggling different cultures languages and identities.
“It was a quest for identity and I thought the best way to give back to my roots was to learn the language and that’s why I started learning Arabic and calligraphy” he recalls the start of his fascination to the art which led to his unique style now recognised in many countries around the world.
eL Seed uses elaborate composition in his work to emphasise not only the words and their meaning but also their movement. He is a visionary artist who evidently advocates peaceful expression and social progress through his works which resonate the reality of humanity and the world today.
Art he said is needed in the world today more than ever amid all the challenges humanity faces. For him art speaks louder than words.
“With art you can highlight issues or raise topics that you couldn’t talk about. Creating a piece of art brings something new that is not there before that sparks conversations and stays in memory for a long time.”
From Paris and New York to Melbourne and Jeddah eL Seed’s works have been recognised widely.
Among his notable artworks is the one found in Gabes city back in his home country of Tunisia in 2012. The 47M tall and 10m wide mural on the Jara Mosque covers two sides of the minaret and bears a verse from the Qur’an his way of promoting tolerance and bringing people together.
The following year he was commissioned by Qatar Museums to design 52 panels on four tunnels on Salwa Road which is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. Each of the 52 large-scale murals feature unique themes inspired by anecdotes from Qatari culture and markers of Qatari life.The Peninsula