eL Seed: Street art with a message of hope and peace
eL Seed: Sztuka ulicy przekazem nadziei i pokoju
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.
the minaret of Jara Mosque
minaret z meczetu Jara
in the south of Tunisia,
so much attention to a city.
że graffiti przyniesie miastu tyle uwagi.
for a wall in my hometown,
was built in '94.
jak go budowali, w 1994 roku.
of concrete stayed grey.
and I told him what I wanted to do,
i powiedziałem mu, co chcę zrobić,
he was waiting for somebody
is that he didn't ask me anything --
że o nic mnie nie zapytał,
or what I was going to write.
I write messages
a mix of calligraphy and graffiti.
połączeniem kaligrafii i graffiti.
the most relevant message
że najbardziej istotny przekaz,
should come from the Quran,
powinien pochodzić z Koranu.
from a male and a female,
z mężczyzny i niewiasty,
so you may know each other."
byście się wzajemnie znali".
tolerance, and acceptance
do pokoju, tolerancji i akceptacji,
portray in a good way in the media.
niezbyt dobrze ukazywanego w mediach.
community reacted to the painting,
miejscowych na mój projekt,
the minaret getting so much attention
że ich minaret przyciąga tyle uwagi
all around the world.
just the painting;
a monument for the city,
stanie się miejską atrakcją,
to this forgotten place of Tunisia.
do tego zapomnianego miejsca.
of Tunisia at this time,
Quran in a graffiti way
werset Koranu jako graffiti,
the essence of my artwork.
to esencja mojej pracy twórczej.
even Arabic-speaking people
mówiący po arabsku
to decipher what I'm writing.
aby odczytać moje pismo.
the meaning to feel the piece.
by doświadczyć sztuki.
your soul before it reaches your eyes.
dotyka ducha, zanim dotrze do oczu.
that you don't need to translate.
którego nie trzeba tłumaczyć.
że umieszczam przekaz,
where I'm painting,
a universal dimension,
can connect to it.
we Francji, w Paryżu.
and read Arabic when I was 18.
i czytać po arabsku w wieku 18 lat.
this is so important to me,
dla którego jest to tak ważne,
I've experienced all around the world.
z jakimi spotykam się na świecie.
this Portuguese poem
przetłumaczyłem portugalski wiersz
to the poor people of the favela,
intrigued by what I was doing,
the meaning of the calligraphy,
connected to the piece.
więź z tym rysunkiem.
concrete wall of the slum.
impossible until it's done."
póki się tego nie zrobi".
"Man, why you don't write in English?"
"Czemu nie piszesz po angielsku?".
your concern legit if you asked me
and he asked for the wall to be erased.
i kazał wyczyścić ścianę.
of the event asked me to come back,
poprosił, żebym wrócił.
right in front of this guy's house.
przed jego własnym domem.
to write, "[In Arabic],"
and I wrote, "[In Arabic],"
i napisałem: "[po arabsku]",
of it through my artwork.
przez swoje prace.
the stereotypes we all know,
stereotypy, które wszyscy znamy
of the message anymore on the wall.
tłumaczeń przesłania.
of the calligraphy to be broken,
without knowing the meaning,
bez znajomości znaczenia,
from other countries.
muzykę z innych krajów.
as a rejection or a closed door,
jako odmowę lub zamknięte drzwi,
to my culture, and to my art.
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