03-06-2016

Perception, eL Seed creates a giant mural in Cairo

“Perception”, by Tunisian-French artist eL Seed in Cairo is a mural that sprawls across 50 buildings in the district of Manshiyat Nasr.



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Perception, eL Seed creates a giant mural in Cairo “Perception”, by Tunisian-French artist eL Seed in Cairo is a mural that sprawls across 50 buildings in the district of Manshiyat Nasr. A “calligraffiti” to bring dignity to a tough urban backdrop, and to look past mere appearances.



Manshiyat Nasr is a district in Cairo more popularly known as the “Garbage City” because its mainly Coptic Christian inhabitants collect and recycle waste from the city that the city government never got around to organising as a public service until a few years ago, when it hired private companies for garbage disposal. Despite the harsh living conditions in this part of Cairo, overrun by the garbage that is traditionally collected by the men and sorted by the women and children almost 90 percent of this garbage is actually recycled and enables this community to survive.





The rundown, garbage-covered brick apartment buildings form the canvas for the artwork of renowned writer and artist eL Seed, whose Arabic “calligraffiti” means “Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first”. The words are a quotation of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, a 3rd century Coptic Bishop. A really giant mural that eL Seed - with a team of 20 friends and the help of the residents - finished in three weeks, on parts of the facades of almost 50 buildings in this neighbourhood, to create an anamorphic - distorted perception - artwork, whose beauty you can only appreciate from afar.

The project was challenging both logistically, being required to work in very tight alleys and high walls surrounded by garbage, and also due to Egypt's strict laws forbidding artistic expression. So, eL Seed and his team worked in total secrecy, without informing the city authorities.
“Perception”, as eL Seed calls his artwork is intended to bring some dignity to a neighbourhood and to a community where he received such great hospitality while he was working on his project. The art of “calligraffiti” turns into more than just a means of bringing attention to an urban slum, and becomes a way of bringing beauty back to this area.

EL Seed and his art in Cairo echoes the words of psychologist James Hillman:  “For love to return to the world, beauty must first return, else we love the world only as a moral duty. Clean it up, preserve its nature, exploit it less” (from “Uncontrollable Beauty”, ed. Bill Beckley, with David Shapiro). 

Christiane Bürklein

Project: eL Seed - http://elseed-art.com/
Location: Manshiyat Nasr, Cairo, Egypt
Year: 2015
Images: Courtesy by eL Seed

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