Nov 14, 2015
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Egyptian Political Street Art
When does writing on walls become less an act of defacing public property and more an act of activism, a release of the stifled and perhaps even repressed and unheard voices of the people?
"Think" Cairo, Egypt, 2011. Tagged by unknown. Photo by Suzee In The City
"Their Weapons vs Our Weapons" Egypt, 2011. Photo | Suzee In The City
Martyr Murals. Islam Raafat, 18 years old. Egypt, 2011. Tagged by Ganzeer.
"Respect Existence or Expect Resistance" Cairo, Egypt, 2011. Tagged byKeizer.
"If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem." Cairo, Egypt, 2011. Tagged by Keizer.
Egypt, 2011. Tagged by Sad Panda.
"Mubarak Posse Love" Mubarak's arms inter-locked with Cultural Minister, Tantawi, and future presidential candidate Amr Moussa. Cairo, Egypt, 2011. Tagged by Ganzeer.
The wave of public outcry that raised roofs in Tunisia late 2010 which then swept through North Africa and into the Middle East has brought with it an outpouring of creative activism, street art and other forms of graffiti. City walls, streets, bridges and pillars becoming the immediate canvas to express thoughts, criticisms, and epitaphs somein English but for the most part in Arabic.
From the naïve and rough to the more sophisticated, the rabble and street artists alike have been making visible their opinions, dissent, ridicule and scathing remarks something literally unheard of these past decades in this region.
Using sprayed or painted images and words, the prevalant graffiti in many cases reflect a currency in political public commentary. At times the messages antagonising leaders on their way out, in other instances witty commentary meant to provoke thought.
In Egypt, pieces tagged by Ganzeer, El Teneen, Sad Panda & Keizer are becoming some of the most talked about and recognisable works. Interestingly, they are also garnering a digital following with Facebook fan pages and Twitter feeds. An evolution likely linked to the statistic that Egypt currently has almost 9 million Facebook users, ranking it #1 on the continent.
In Egypt, the dialogue encouraged through street art and activism continues to build momentum, becoming more formalised. Ganzeer for example has been savvy to employ the Internet on many levels. He hosts the user-driven website cairostreetart.com, an updateable google map where users tag and mark the latest graffiti sightings in Cairo.
Whichever way you look at it, there is one clear message being written on the walls from Benghazi to Cairo, a message echoed in one of Keizer’s tags “Your fear is their power!” and the word fear could just as easily be replaced with silence.
Heeheehee-- thanks, Donnie. :D
[Source]