"In a project like this, the art was just a pretext for what we do, which is really a human experience," said eL Seed at Art Dubai's Global Art Forum as Glenn D. Lowry, the director of Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) questioned him about his latest project - Perception.
The calligraffiti artist, who chooses to paint on walls and in public areas as a way to impact local communities as well as democratise his art, has just spent the last three weeks in Cairo, painting his most ambitious project yet. With a team of 40 people, he covered the walls of more than 50 buildings with a composite circular mural in the closed community of the Coptic community of Zaraeeb, in the neighbourhood of Mokkatam Mountain in Cairo.
The people in this area are known colloquially as the Zabaleen (people of the garbage) because they live from the mountains of waste that build up in the city - one of the most populous of the world. Because of this, they are considered to be dirty, marginalised and segregated but in reality they are extremely well organised, and their recycling system is easily the most sophisticated in the world - they recycle at least 80 percent of their waste.
In his talk with Lowry, who asked several pointed and pertinent questions, eL Seed described his first visit to the community and how his perception of the people totally changed. It was this about turn that inspired him to go back to Egypt and paint this anamorphic artwork that is only visible from only one point on top of the mountain.
For the content of the artwork, eL Seed chose to quote Athanasius - a renowned Christian theologian and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century - whose words translate from Arabic as: “He who wants to see the light clearly, first needs to wipe his eyes.”
“We want to show this is a community that has been segregated and shown the wrong way,” the artist said. “That is what I want to show with this quote and the title of the project.”
With a book and a documentary under way, the project is not over yet and with the painting still on the walls in Cairo, the artist hopes for a lasting effect. He said that it is of no consequence if people can’t read or decipher the words he chose to paint. “The power of calligraphy is that it touches your soul before your eyes,” he said. “Anywhere you go in the world, people will feel a reaction to Arabic calligraphy.”
* aseaman@thenational.ae
