By Raynald C Rivera
Spray paint is his brush, the walls his canvas. For many, traditional Arabic calligraphy and street art may be worlds apart, but French-Tunisian artist eL Seed has successfully combined the two in what he calls ‘calligraffiti’, a new visual art form which has catapulted him to global fame, taking him to various cities around the world.
Last month, he arrived in Doha, having been commissioned by Qatar Museums Authority and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in probably the largest public art project in the country. This is the first time calligraffiti has been brought to Qatar.
“This is a new type of art. Many people believe that graffiti is linked to vandalism, but I believe this (Salwa calligraffiti project) is a nice way to introduce this to people here to show that they can do graffiti in a different way,” he told The Peninsula during a recent visit to one of the tunnels where he has finished creating murals.
Under this project, eL Seed is to design 52 panels in four tunnels that are part of Ashghal’s ongoing Salwa Road project. Each of the 52 large-scale murals will feature unique themes inspired by Qatari culture and life.
“I did my own research to make sure that what I’m doing here is relevant to the place. As in other parts of the world, I speak to the people as well as try to know the history and culture of the place,” he said about his preparations prior to the start of the project.
As his work is street art that people see every day, he believes it has to “speak to people and to me.”
Some of the six panels he has executed carry verses from Qatar’s national anthem, which are inscribed on the first few metres of the tunnel’s walls.
Some of them translate into English as: “Travel the high road; travel by the guiding light of the prophets”, and, “Doves they can be at times of peace, warriors they are at times of sacrifice.”
They follow the “liquid alphabet” style, in which eL Seed has calligraphed the letters on top of each other, creating the impression of fluid, moving text.
Compared to other forms of visual art, eL Seed’s calligraffiti has its own advantages, being appealing to and enjoyed by a large number of people.
“It’s an outdoor gallery. You bring the world to everyone,” he says.
It is also a form that makes street art challenging for the artist, and the current project presents a different challenge to him.
“It’s a huge challenge for me as this is the first time I was asked to display my work in four tunnels, which I have never done before,” he said, adding it was technically challenging to paint hundreds of metres of walls, which he claimed had never been done anywhere in the world.
But eL Seed is not working alone. A team of seven young budding artists from Qatar has volunteered to assist him in the large-scale project.
“We work 10 hours a day, and I see a lot of potential in them. They come even on Saturdays, and stay late,” he said of the young artists.
“They are doing really well; step by step, I give them more responsibility, and they understand more and more the process and the way I work.”
Other than decorating the tallest minaret in his hometown of Gabes in Tunisia with a verse from the Quran about intolerance, the 31-year-old artist says his Doha project is his largest to date and one of the biggest of its kind in the world.
The 47-metre tall and 10-metre wide mural on the Jara Mosque covers two sides of the minaret; it is the artist’s way of promoting tolerance and bringing people together.
Having started with his distinctive art form more than a decade ago in France, where he was born, eL Seed says he never imagined he would make it big in the art world.
“No, never. It started as my passion. I did it because I loved it. Then people like it and asked me to come and get paid to do what I love, and I’m very grateful to live from that and be able to share it with other people.”
eL Seed’s unique style is a product of creativity and looking back to where he came from.
“Each artist chooses his art form; then he appropriates it and makes it his. That’s what I did. I started to study calligraphy in France because of my background, my roots, my history, what I have been through in life. Then I decided to make calligraffiti in Arabic.”
As to the future of this new art form, he said: “I believe this is the beginning, and the point is to encourage the youth to get into this art and to really be happy with what they have in their culture. I believe in calligraffiti because it’s modern and for the youth, so I’m optimistic.”
From Doha, he will head to Dubai for another project in March.
