eL Seed: Street art with a message of hope and peace
eL Seed: Ulična umetnost s sporočilom o upanju in miru
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
na minaret mošeje Jara
in the south of Tunisia,
na jugu Tunizije,
so much attention to a city.
pritegnil toliko pozornosti na mesto.
for a wall in my hometown,
was built in '94.
of concrete stayed grey.
betona ostalo sivih.
povedal moj namen,
and I told him what I wanted to do,
he was waiting for somebody
ki bo nekaj storil na minaretu.
da me ni ničesar vprašal.
is that he didn't ask me anything --
or what I was going to write.
sporočilo v obliki kaligrafitov,
I write messages
a mix of calligraphy and graffiti.
najbolj ustrezno,
the most relevant message
should come from the Quran,
Izbral sem verz:
moškega in ženske, razdelili smo vas
from a male and a female,
so you may know each other."
da se boste lahko poznali med seboj."
tolerance, and acceptance
toleranci in sprejemanju,
prikazana v slabi luči.
portray in a good way in the media.
community reacted to the painting,
skupnosti nad sliko,
the minaret getting so much attention
da je minaret deležen
medijev z vseh koncev sveta.
all around the world.
just the painting;
bilo je globlje.
a monument for the city,
spomenik za mesto
to this forgotten place of Tunisia.
tunizijski kraj.
takratni politični kontekst v Tuniziji,
of Tunisia at this time,
Quran in a graffiti way
the essence of my artwork.
govoreči ljudje zelo potruditi,
even Arabic-speaking people
to decipher what I'm writing.
da začutiš delo.
the meaning to feel the piece.
prej dotakne duše kot pa oči.
your soul before it reaches your eyes.
ki je ni potrebno prevajati.
that you don't need to translate.
se počutiš povezanega z njo.
ki ustrezajo kraju, kjer slikam.
where I'm painting,
a universal dimension,
can connect to it.
sem se začel učiti pri 18-ih.
and read Arabic when I was 18.
najpomembnejši razlogi za to
this is so important to me,
ki sem jih doživel po celem svetu.
I've experienced all around the world.
this Portuguese poem
portugalsko pesem Gabriele Tôrres Barbosa,
in jo narisal na streho.
to the poor people of the favela,
velik interes za moje početje,
intrigued by what I was doing,
povedal pomen kaligrafije,
the meaning of the calligraphy,
connected to the piece.
saj so se počutili povezane z delom.
so mi v okrožju Philippi
concrete wall of the slum.
citat Nelsona Mandele,
dokler ni opravljeno."
impossible until it's done."
"Man, why you don't write in English?"
"Zakaj ne pišeš v angleščini?"
your concern legit if you asked me
če bi me vprašal, zakaj ne pišem v Zulu."
mi je nekdo dal zid za poslikavo.
and he asked for the wall to be erased.
in naročil odstranitev grafita.
of the event asked me to come back,
organizator dogodka povabil nazaj.
ki je točno pred hišo tistega moškega.
right in front of this guy's house.
to write, "[In Arabic],"
da bom pametnejši in napisal: "[arabsko],"
and I wrote, "[In Arabic],"
biti skozi svoje umetnine njen ambasador.
of it through my artwork.
the stereotypes we all know,
ki jih vsi poznamo,
of the message anymore on the wall.
ne pišem več na zid.
of the calligraphy to be broken,
ne da poznaš pomen,
without knowing the meaning,
from other countries.
iz drugih dežel.
as a rejection or a closed door,
zavrnitev ali zaprta vrata,
to my culture, and to my art.
k svoji kulturi in k svoji umetnosti.
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