The unexpected significance of eL Seed's calligraphy work in Brazil

And where to see works by the Dubai-based calligrafiti artist in the UAE and around the world

Vidigal Favella, Brazil: the street calligrapher didn't know he was painting on the rooftop of an art school in Brazil's Vidigal Favella, he revealed on Instagram. 'Few days after I left Brazil, I received notifications from a post by Vik Muniz saying 'This morning, the roof of the school was painted with this huge tag by an unidentified artist, and I must say, it's quite beautiful [...] Thanks, awesome tagger.' Out of all the houses in the favela, I had to paint on the school of the renowned Brazilian artist.' Instagram / eL Seed

London, UK: part of the British Library's exhibition Writing: Making Your Mark exhibition, this work by eL Seed was on show, beneath the four founders of The British Library. The show ran until August 27, 2019. Instagram / eL Seed

Ajman, UAE: ‘Les Yeux Dan Les Bleus’, on the Al Bustan Building in Ajman, is based on a poem by Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father. Speaking of completing the 2017 work, eL Seed says: 'I painted it during Ramadan, so it was super-difficult. I tried before iftar, after iftar, early in the morning before suhoor … but then I just decided to pause, and start again after Ramadan.' Courtesy eL Seed

Cairo: Egypt: perhaps eL Seed's most famous work, 'Perception', in Cairo's Manshiyat Nasr district, is a piece painted across about 50 buildings. The words are from Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, a third-century Coptic Bishop. 'Anyone who wants to see the sunlight, clearly needs to wipe his eyes first.' Courtesy eL Seed

Dubai, UAE: located in Dubai's Opera District is bold-pink sculpture 'Declaration'. Of his work, eL Seed says: 'Two years in the making, one month of installation and a lifetime declaration of love to calligraphy.' Instagram / eL Seed

Gabes, Tunisia: in 2012, eL Seed painted the Quranic verse, 'O mankind, indeed, We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes so that you may know one another', across the 57-metre minaret of the Jara Mosque in downtown Gabes. Courtesy eL Seed

Demilitarised zone between North and South Korea: 'The Bridge’ is a laser-cut aluminium representation of a poem by Kim Sowol. 'Giving importance to other people’s work is for me, a sense of duty,' eL Seed says. Courtesy eL Seed

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: the painting of this water tower in Riyadh was initiated by the Saudi Ministry of Culture. It features words by one of the greatest Bedouin poets, Abdallah ad-Dindan. Instagram / eL Seed

Cambridge, UK: 'The words of Veronica Forrest-Thomson' by eL Seed in Cambridge. Forrest-Thomson was a poet and a critical theorist, raised in Glasgow, Scotland and educated at the University of Cambridge. Instagram / eL Seed

Algiers, Algeria: eL Seed shared this piece located in Algiers, Algeria in March 2019. The piece is based on lyrics from the song 'Bilad Al Khayr' by Algerian singer, Dahman El Harrachi. Instagram / eL Seed

Shajrah, UAE: eL Seed completed his first public UAE project on an abandoned building on Sharjah's Bank Street in 2015. The mural was created as part of the Jedariya (Arabic for "walls") initiative, launched by Maraya Art Centre. Sarah Dea / The National

When UAE-based calligrafiti artist eL Seed started painting on a "random" roof in the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he had no idea just how significant it would be, he has revealed in a recent Instagram post.

When he had finished the pink and black calligraphy and graffiti piece, he found out it was actually the roof of an art school run by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.

The piece he is referring to in his Instagram post dated May 26, 2019, actually dates back to 2015.

Click through the gallery above to see where you can find more of eL Seed's work in the UAE and around the world. 

"I didn't know it was an art school when I painted the rooftop of this building in Vidigal favela," the French-Tunisian, Dubai-based artist explains in the post. "[A] few days after I left Brazil, I received notifications from a post by Vik Muniz saying, 'This morning, the roof of the school was painted with this huge tag by an unidentified artist, and I must say, it's quite beautiful [...] Thanks, awesome tagger.' Out of all the houses in the favela, I had to paint on the school of the renowned Brazilian artist."

In the last month, a new piece by the artist has been unveiled at London's British Library.

The piece on show is part of the Writing: Making Your Mark exhibition, which will run until Tuesday, August 27. It features over 100 objects, spanning 5,000 years and sourced from seven continents.

As well as eL Seed's calligraphy piece, which is displayed below busts of the four founders of The British Library, also included in the exhibition are James Joyce's collection of notes for Ulysses, tattooing instruments, a notebook of Alexander Fleming's, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and early editions of The Canterbury Tales.

eL Seed painted his canvas with black and silver lettering at The British Museum, and included a quote from Khalil Gibran's grave, which reads: "I'm alive like you, standing beside you. Close your eyes and you will see me in front of you."

Of the significance of language he says, it's the "main part of an identity." In a video, produced by The British Library, he recalls having an "identity crisis" as a teenager growing up in France, with the need to "choose between being French and Tunisian".

He goes on to say that Arabic script and calligraphy made him "reconnect between those two identities." Adding: "Today, I want to use this as a tool to create the same connection between other cultures, other people and other generations."