Most communities try to avoid the attentions of graffiti artists. The Tunisian island of Djerba positively welcomes them.
Using the village of Erriadh, the Djerbahood project invited 150 street artists from 30 countries to live and work in the community, while creating what is being called an “open-air museum.”
Djerba is the largest island in North Africa and Erriadh one of the country’s oldest communities, with Muslims, Christians and Jews living side by side for centuries.
The project is the brainchild of the Tunisian artist and gallery owner Mehdi Ben Cheikh, who last year used the same concept to transform a derelict Parisian block of flats due to be demolished,
Since the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, Tunisia street art has flourished.
Djerbahjood uses old and new buildings, sometimes incorporating architecture into the murals, as with the Belgian street artist ROA, who has turned a dome into the head of an octopus.
