eL Seed: A project of peace, painted across 50 buildings
אל סיד: פרוייקט של שלום, מצויר על 50 בניינים
French-Tunisian artist eL Seed blends the historic art of Arabic calligraphy with graffti to portray messages of beauty, poetry and peace across all continents. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
an art piece in Manshiyat Naser,
במנשיאת נאסר,
garbage collectors in Egypt,
that I would ever live.
this humanist intention
and neglected neighborhood
shining light on this isolated community.
להאיר אור על הקהילה המבודדת הזו.
this Christian Coptic community
על הקהילה הנוצרית הקופטית
under the regime of Hosni Mubarak
תחת משטר חוסני מוברק
using the pretext of H1N1 virus.
באמתלה של נגיף ה H1N1.
are fed with the organic waste
מוזנות בפסולת אורגנית
it felt like a maze.
הרגשתי כמו במבוך.
on the top of the Muqattam Mountain.
של רחוב סנט סימון על הר מוקטאן.
then right again, then left
אז שוב ימינה, ושמאלה
the trucks overpacked with garbage
אתם חייבים להתחמק מהמשאיות שעמוסות בזבל
in the neighborhood.
unloaded from those trucks was intense,
was loud and overbearing.
in those warehouses along the way.
על ידי המגרסות במחסנים האלו לאורך הדרך.
but everything is perfectly organized.
אבל הכל מאורגן להפליא.
they call themselves,
neighborhood for decades.
one of the most efficient
on a global level.
as dirty, marginalized and segregated
מוקצה ומופרד
with the trash.
was to create an anamorphic piece,
היה ליצור יצירה אנמורפית,
from one vantage point.
by painting over several buildings
על ידי ציור על מספר בניינים
from one point on the Muqattam Mountain.
is the pride of the community.
the St. Simon Monastery,
that they carved into the mountain itself.
שהם חצבו לתוך ההר עצמו.
I stood on top of the mountain
will I convince all those owners
לשכנע את כל בעלי הבתים האלה
to convince was Father Samaan,
שאני צריך לשכנע היה האב סמאן,
I needed to convince Mario,
הייתי צריך לשכנע את מריו,
who moved to Cairo 20 years ago
of the Cave Church.
He was the key of the project.
הוא היה גורם מפתח לפרוייקט הזה.
a meeting with Father Samaan,
by what I was going to write.
I write messages
to the place where I am painting
רלוונטיים למקום בו אני מצייר
can relate to it.
the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria,
של סנט את'נסיוס מאלכסנדריה,
to see the sunlight clearly
felt connected to the words.
reflecting the spirit of the project.
את הרוח של הפרוייקט.
all the residents on board.
a dozen blue manual lifts,
שתיים עשר מעליות ידניות,
North Africa, Middle East and the US,
המזרח התיכון וארצות הברית,
and logistics, there we are,
from the local community
spread over 50 buildings,
of the calligraphy
there some orange.
on the top of the buildings
and disassembling those same lifts
the different buildings.
buildings on my sketch,
with the community.
became family names.
הפכו לשמות משפחה.
was the house of Uncle Ibrahim.
an enthusiastic person.
saved me from his bull
on the fourth floor.
and came out on the balcony.
hanging out on the balcony
go to the mountain for 10 years,
שהוא לא עלה להר כבר 10 שנים,
who will stop the garbage?
מי יעצור את הזבל?
at the end of the project,
to look at the piece.
to see his house painted,
was a project of peace and --
פרוייקט של שלום --
of peace and unity
towards the project changed,
the community changed also,
is disgusted by is not theirs.
They live from the garbage.
of this whole project?
a place by bringing art to it.
על ידי הבאת אמנות אליו.
and opening a dialogue
with communities that we don’t know.
עם קהילות שאנחנו לא מכירים.
on the mountain to look at the piece.
every day made my realize
כל יום גרמה לי להבין
this anamorphic piece.
the real image of somebody,
את התמונה המקורית של מישהו,
to work in such environments,
while you paint
to reach a lift.
of the heights, the swinging lifts,
המעליות המתנדנדות,
of not finishing on time.
made us forget everything.
גרמה לנו לשכוח הכל.
of Uncle Bakheet and Aunty Fareeda.
של דוד בקהיט ודודה פרידה.
this expression that says, "Ahsen Nas,"
in front of their houses,
מול הבתים שלהם,
by the kids of Manshiyat Naser.
refusing anything we were offering them,
הם תמיד סרבו לכל מה שהצענו להם,
their kids to refuse anything
את הילדים שלהם לסרב לכל דבר
needs it more than they do.
was the ideal context
our level of misconception
את רמה הגישה המוטעית שלנו
based on their differences.
on Uncle Ibrahim's house
על הבית של דוד איברהים
that hold the lifts.
and Aunty Fareeda
a project of peace and unity,
that people were coming together.
with a smile, offering us a drink
own house for lunch.
at the first level of a building,
and offers you some tea.
on the second floor.
as I did in Egypt.
כל כך הרבה תה כמו ששתיתי במצרים.
we could have finished earlier,
היינו יכולים לסיים מוקדם יותר,
because of all those tea breaks.
בגלל כל הפסקות התה האלו.
which is "Nawartouna,"
שהוא "נאווארטונה,"
they were always telling us this.
for the calligraphy
we rented some black light projectors
שכרנו כמה זרקורים של אור אולטרה סגול
who brought light to us.
are strong, honest, hard workers,
כנים ועובדים קשה,
call them "the Zabaleen,"
the people of Manshiyat Naser
who produce the garbage, not them.
to this community,
who left something in our lives.
was just a pretext
will disappear, vanish,
who is building a second floor
and paint over it.
that we should all think about
שאנחנו צריכים לחשוב עליו
the sunlight clearly
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
eL Seed - ArtistFrench-Tunisian artist eL Seed blends the historic art of Arabic calligraphy with graffti to portray messages of beauty, poetry and peace across all continents.
Why you should listen
Born in Paris to Tunisian parents, eL Seed travels the world, making art in Paris, New York, Jeddah, Melbourne, Gabes, Doha and beyond. His goal: to create dialogue and promote tolerance as well as change global perceptions of what Arabic means. In 2012, for instance, he painted a message of unity on a 47-meter-high minaret on the Jara mosque in Gabes, Tunisia. This piece and others can be found in his book, Lost Walls: Graffiti Road Trip through Tunisia
Most recently he created a sprawling mural in the Manshiyat Naser neighborhood of Cairo that spans 50 buildings and can only be viewed from a local mountaintop. Intending to honor the historic garbage collectors of the Manshiyat Naser neighborhood, the piece reads, "Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first."
eL Seed | Speaker | TED.com