eL Seed: A project of peace, painted across 50 buildings
eL Seed: Bir barış projesi, üzeri boyanmış 50 bina
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,
yaratmaya karar verince,
garbage collectors in Egypt,
çöp şehri olarak biliniyor,
that I would ever live.
this humanist intention
bir gayem vardı,
and neglected neighborhood
mahalleyi güzelleştirmek
shining light on this isolated community.
topluluğa ışık tutmak istedim.
this Christian Coptic community
under the regime of Hosni Mubarak
Hüsnü Mübarek rejiminde
using the pretext of H1N1 virus.
kesmeye karar verdiklerinde duydum.
are fed with the organic waste
günlük olarak topladıkları
it felt like a maze.
labirent gibi gelmişti bana.
on the top of the Muqattam Mountain.
St. Simon manastırını arıyordum.
then right again, then left
yapıyorsunuz, sonra düz,
the trucks overpacked with garbage
kamyonların arasından sıyrılmalı
in the neighborhood.
arasından geçmelisiniz.
unloaded from those trucks was intense,
çöp kokusu yoğundu
was loud and overbearing.
yüksek sesli ve sıkıcıydı.
in those warehouses along the way.
gürültüsünü buna ekleyin.
but everything is perfectly organized.
ama her şey mükemmelce organize edilmiş.
they call themselves,
neighborhood for decades.
on yıllarca yapmışlar.
one of the most efficient
on a global level.
kârlı bir sistem.
as dirty, marginalized and segregated
ve ayrı tutulmuş görünüyorlar,
with the trash.
was to create an anamorphic piece,
eser tasarlamaktı,
from one vantage point.
görebildiğiniz bir parça.
by painting over several buildings
kapsayan resim çizmek istedim
from one point on the Muqattam Mountain.
görülmesini planladım.
is the pride of the community.
insanların gururudur.
the St. Simon Monastery,
that they carved into the mountain itself.
toplam 10.000 kişilik bir kilisedir.
I stood on top of the mountain
will I convince all those owners
ev sahibini binalarını boyamaya
to convince was Father Samaan,
etmem gerekeceğini söyledi,
I needed to convince Mario,
Mario'yu ikna etmem gerekiyordu,
who moved to Cairo 20 years ago
Polonya'lı bir sanatçı
of the Cave Church.
sanat eserlerini yapan kişi.
He was the key of the project.
O bu projenin kilit noktası.
a meeting with Father Samaan,
buluşmamı Mario sağladı.
by what I was going to write.
endişe ediyordu.
I write messages
Arapça hat sanatı
to the place where I am painting
olmasına gayret ediyorum,
can relate to it.
anlam çıkarabilsin.
the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria,
Arapça'da kullanmaya karar verdim,
to see the sunlight clearly
felt connected to the words.
bağlantı kurmalarıydı.
reflecting the spirit of the project.
çok iyi anlatıyordu.
all the residents on board.
desteğini sağladı.
a dozen blue manual lifts,
bir düzine mavi manuel asansör,
North Africa, Middle East and the US,
ve Amerika'dan gelen sağlam bir ekip
and logistics, there we are,
sürecinden sonra işte buradayız.
from the local community
spread over 50 buildings,
bir parça oluşturduk.
of the calligraphy
yerleri dolduruyor,
there some orange.
diğer tarafa turuncu.
on the top of the buildings
and disassembling those same lifts
sökmekle meşguldü
the different buildings.
buildings on my sketch,
with the community.
gerçek bir iletişim yoktu.
yarayacağını anlamadılar.
became family names.
ailelerin soyadıyla yer değiştirdi.
was the house of Uncle Ibrahim.
an enthusiastic person.
saved me from his bull
bana saldırmak isteyen
on the fourth floor.
and came out on the balcony.
ve balkona çıkmıştı.
hanging out on the balcony
her zaman balkona çıkar
go to the mountain for 10 years,
ve hiç izin almadığını
who will stop the garbage?
çöpleri kim durduracak?
at the end of the project,
to look at the piece.
ve esere göz attı.
to see his house painted,
gerçekten de onurlanmıştı
was a project of peace and --
olduğunu söylemişti ve --
of peace and unity
towards the project changed,
the community changed also,
hakkında fikirlerim değişti
is disgusted by is not theirs.
onların çöpü değil.
They live from the garbage.
Çöple geçim sağlıyorlar.
of this whole project?
a place by bringing art to it.
güzelleştirmek değildi amacım.
and opening a dialogue
with communities that we don’t know.
iletişim kurmaktı.
on the mountain to look at the piece.
geri dönüp esere bakıyorduk.
every day made my realize
this anamorphic piece.
the real image of somebody,
imajını görmek istiyorsan,
to work in such environments,
kolay değildi,
while you paint
to reach a lift.
çöpe tırmanmamız gerekiyordu.
of the heights, the swinging lifts,
sallanan asansörün verdiği korkuyu,
of not finishing on time.
made us forget everything.
unutmamızı sağladı.
of Uncle Bakheet and Aunty Fareeda.
ve Fareeda teyzenindi.
this expression that says, "Ahsen Nas,"
"Ahsen Nas,"
in front of their houses,
mola veriyorduk
by the kids of Manshiyat Naser.
çok etkilendim.
refusing anything we were offering them,
reddediyorlardı,
their kids to refuse anything
çocuklarına ikramları geri çevirmelerini
needs it more than they do.
daha muhtaç olabilir.
was the ideal context
ele almak için
our level of misconception
gördüğümüz grupları,
based on their differences.
on Uncle Ibrahim's house
evine geç başlamıştık.
that hold the lifts.
torbalarını yemişlerdi.
and Aunty Fareeda
a project of peace and unity,
demek istediği de bu.
that people were coming together.
with a smile, offering us a drink
içecek ikram ediyordu
own house for lunch.
evlerine çağırıyorlardı.
at the first level of a building,
and offers you some tea.
on the second floor.
gelince de oluyordu.
as I did in Egypt.
kadar çay içmedim.
we could have finished earlier,
because of all those tea breaks.
üç haftada bitirdik.
which is "Nawartouna,"
bir başka tabir var,
they were always telling us this.
for the calligraphy
kullandım kalifgrafimde
we rented some black light projectors
who brought light to us.
are strong, honest, hard workers,
dürüst, çalışkan
call them "the Zabaleen,"
the people of Manshiyat Naser
Manshiyat Naser'dekiler
who produce the garbage, not them.
biz değiliz diyorlar.
to this community,
who left something in our lives.
bizim hayatımıza bir şeyler kattılar.
was just a pretext
will disappear, vanish,
who is building a second floor
önünde birisi,
and paint over it.
that we should all think about
evvel üzerine düşünmesi gerektiği
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