eL Seed: Street art with a message of hope and peace
eL Seed: Ulična umjetnost s porukom nade i mira.
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.
minaret na džamiji Jara
the minaret of Jara Mosque
na jugu Tunisa,
in the south of Tunisia,
toliko pozornosti na grad.
so much attention to a city.
for a wall in my hometown,
u mom rodnom gradu,
sagrađen 94'-te.
was built in '94.
ostalo je sivo.
of concrete stayed grey.
and I told him what I wanted to do,
i rekao mu što želim napraviti,
da netko
he was waiting for somebody
is that he didn't ask me anything --
me nije tražio ništa
or what I was going to write.
niti tekst kojeg sam mislio napisati.
I write messages
upisujem poruke
mješavinom kaligrafije i grafita.
a mix of calligraphy and graffiti.
the most relevant message
najvažnija poruka
treba biti iz Kurana,
should come from the Quran,
od muškoga i ženskoga,
from a male and a female,
kako bi ste se upoznali."
so you may know each other."
toleranciju i prihvaćanje
tolerance, and acceptance
u medijima ne prikazuje kao dobru.
portray in a good way in the media.
community reacted to the painting,
lokalne zajednice na sliku,
privlači toliku pozornost
the minaret getting so much attention
iz svih dijelova svijeta.
all around the world.
just the painting;
slika;
gradski spomenik,
a monument for the city,
zaboravljeni dio Tunisa.
to this forgotten place of Tunisia.
Tunisa u tom vremenu,
of Tunisia at this time,
Kuran grafitima
Quran in a graffiti way
the essence of my artwork.
srž moje umjetnosti.
ljudi koji razumiju arapski
even Arabic-speaking people
odgonetnuli što sam napisao.
to decipher what I'm writing.
the meaning to feel the piece.
osjetili djelo.
your soul before it reaches your eyes.
prije nego li dođe do vaših očiju.
koju ne trebate prevoditi.
that you don't need to translate.
u kojem slikam,
where I'm painting,
univerzalnu dimenziju,
a universal dimension,
can connect to it.
u Parizu,
arapski kada sam imao 18.
and read Arabic when I was 18.
je to toliko važno
this is so important to me,
doživio po svijetu.
I've experienced all around the world.
portugalsku pjesmu
this Portuguese poem
u favelama,
to the poor people of the favela,
intrigued by what I was doing,
zainteresirana za to što sam radio,
značenje napisanog,
the meaning of the calligraphy,
povezano s djelom.
connected to the piece.
concrete wall of the slum.
dok se ne napravi."
impossible until it's done."
"Man, why you don't write in English?"
"Čovječe, zašto ne pišeš na engleskom?"
zabrinutost opravdanom da si me pitao
your concern legit if you asked me
i tražio je da prekreče zid.
and he asked for the wall to be erased.
da se vratim,
of the event asked me to come back,
kuće onog čovjeka.
right in front of this guy's house.
"(na arapskom)",
to write, "[In Arabic],"
and I wrote, "[In Arabic],"
i napisao sam "(na arapskom)",
kroz svoju umjetnost.
of it through my artwork.
the stereotypes we all know,
stereotipe koje svi znamo,
of the message anymore on the wall.
poruka na zid.
poeziju kaligrafije,
of the calligraphy to be broken,
cijeniti neznajući značenje
without knowing the meaning,
from other countries.
iz drugih zemalja.
as a rejection or a closed door,
ili zatvorena vrata,
u moju umjetnost.
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