eL Seed: Street art with a message of hope and peace
eL Seed: Karya seni jalanan dengan pesan harapan dan perdamaian
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
ketika saya melukis menara Masjid Jara
in the south of Tunisia,
di bagian selatan Tunisia,
so much attention to a city.
menarik banyak perhatian ke sebuah kota.
for a wall in my hometown,
satu dinding di kota saya,
was built in '94.
pada tahun 1994.
of concrete stayed grey.
57 meter itu berwarna kelabu.
and I told him what I wanted to do,
sang imam dan menyatakan maksud saya,
kamu akhirnya datang,"
ia menunggu seseorang
he was waiting for somebody
menara itu.
is that he didn't ask me anything --
ialah ia tidak menanyakan apapun --
or what I was going to write.
atau apa yang akan saya tulis.
I write messages
saya menuliskan pesan
a mix of calligraphy and graffiti.
pencampuran antara kaligrafi dan grafiti.
the most relevant message
pesan yang paling pas
haruslah datang dari Al Qur'an,
should come from the Quran,
satu laki-laki dan satu perempuan,
from a male and a female,
so you may know each other."
dan bersuku-suku, supaya saling mengenal."
tolerance, and acceptance
toleransi, dan penerimaan
portray in a good way in the media.
jarang ditampilkan dengan baik di media.
community reacted to the painting,
masyarakat sekitar atas lukisan itu,
the minaret getting so much attention
bangga karena menaranya menarik perhatian
all around the world.
terdapat makna lebih pada lukisan itu:
just the painting;
a monument for the city,
monumen kota,
to this forgotten place of Tunisia.
yang terlupakan ini.
of Tunisia at this time,
Quran in a graffiti way
melalui grafiti
the essence of my artwork.
karya seni saya.
even Arabic-speaking people
bahkan orang-orang berbahasa Arab pun
to decipher what I'm writing.
untuk membaca apa yang saya tulis.
the meaning to feel the piece.
untuk dapat menikmatinya.
your soul before it reaches your eyes.
sebelum menyentuh mata Anda.
that you don't need to translate.
yang tak membutuhkan terjemahan.
berbicara pada semua orang;
untuk menuliskan pesan
where I'm painting,
dimana saya melukisnya,
a universal dimension,
dimensi universal,
can connect to it.
dapat terhubung dengan pesan itu.
di Paris,
and read Arabic when I was 18.
Bahasa Arab pada usia 18.
dalam Bahasa Arab.
this is so important to me,
hal ini penting bagi saya,
I've experienced all around the world.
di seluruh dunia.
this Portuguese poem
puisi berbahasa Portugis ini
to the poor people of the favela,
orang-orang miskin di kampung kumuh favela
intrigued by what I was doing,
dengan yang saya lakukan,
the meaning of the calligraphy,
arti dari kaligrafi itu,
connected to the piece.
merasa terhubung dengan lukisan itu.
di kota Cape Town,
concrete wall of the slum.
di kawasan kumuh mereka.
dan saya menuliskan
impossible until it's done."
sampai ia dikerjakan."
"Man, why you don't write in English?"
dalam Bahasa Inggris?"
your concern legit if you asked me
kupertimbangkan, kalau kau tanya padaku
ada sebuah kegiatan,
untuk dilukis.
dalam Bahasa Arab,
and he asked for the wall to be erased.
dan ia meminta untuk dihapus.
of the event asked me to come back,
panitia kegiatan meminta saya kembali
right in front of this guy's house.
persis di depan rumah orang itu.
to write, "[In Arabic],"
"[dalam Bahasa Arab],"
tapi --
and I wrote, "[In Arabic],"
dan menulis, "[dalam Bahasa Arab],"
of it through my artwork.
budaya melalui karya seni saya.
the stereotypes we all know,
memutus stereotip yang ada,
of the message anymore on the wall.
terjemahan dari pesan di dinding.
of the calligraphy to be broken,
terputus,
without knowing the meaning,
mengapresiasinya tanpa tahu artinya,
from other countries.
negara lain.
as a rejection or a closed door,
penolakan atau pintu tertutup,
undangan --
to my culture, and to my art.
budaya saya, dan karya saya.
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