Basharat Bashir

EL Seed: Art For People

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El Seed is a French-Tunisian calligraphy artist known for his large-scale public art projects. As acontemporary artist his practice crosses the discipline of painting and sculpture. Most of his projects convey the messages of peace and harmony between the communities around the world. He uses phrases from writers, poets, and philosophers as well as from religious texts in his own style in any public space to addressthe commonalities of human existence. He has worked in many cities around the world and his work has been published in various art galleries and museums.

El seeds work is aimed to bring positive changes in a community. His messages of peace harmony and tolerance are influential in driving youth towards a positive future.  Unlike many public artists el Seed before initiating a work in a community spends a long time interacting with people, understanding their perspective and listening to their stories. He wants his work to reflect the core values of the community and through his art he amplifies their voices. He finds his artwork as a way of building a link between people around the world.

El Seed has worked on various public art projects across globe. His project Perception in Cairo Egypt is an example of how art can be used to removesocial discrimination and bring people together. Created in the Coptic communityof Zaraeeb, el Seed through ‘Perception’ questions the level of judgement and misconception about a community that is different. The community of Zaraeeb collects the trash of the city for decades and developed the most efficient and highly profitable recycling system on a global level. Still, the place is perceived as dirty, marginalized, and segregated. To bring light on this community, with his team and the help of the local community, eL Seed created an anamorphic piece that covers almost 50 buildings only visible from a certain point of the Muqattam Mountain. The piece of art uses the words of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, a Coptic Bishop from the 3rd century, that said: ‘Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first.’

El Seed while commenting on the project had said “The Zaraeeb community welcomed my team and me as if we were family. It was one of the most amazing human experiences I have ever had. They are generous, honest, and strong people. They have been given the name of Zabaleen (the garbage people), but this is not how they call themselves. They do not live in the garbage but from the garbage; and it is not their garbage, but the garbage of the whole city. They are the ones who clean the city of Cairo.”

El Seeds work is based on harmony, peace, love, respect, and tolerance.His 2012 project in Tunisia was based on growing differences between religious sects and art community. His work on Jara Mosque in Gabes created in the month of Ramadan was first of its kind. With proper approval from the Governor of Gabès and the mosque’s imam, Shaikh Slah NacefThe 57-metre-high mural was executed.

The focus of the project was to highlight the convergence of art and religion and raising the public’s awareness by infusing art directly into the urban landscape. Exhibiting the words, “Oh humankind, we have created you from a male and a female and made people and tribes so you may know each other,” eL Seed quoted a verse from the Quran which addresses the importance of mutual respect and tolerance through knowledge as an obligation.

Recent events in Tunsia, the birthplace of Arab Spring sparked a critical debate about the limits of artistic freedoms el Seed, who began working on the mural on July 20, says that the project is not about beautifying a mosque but rather about making art a visible actor in the process of cultural and political change. Especially in Tunisia’s current tumultuous political environment, “I firmly believe that art can foster fruitful debate.””I hope that this artistic wall on the minaret will help to revive the city, and especially tourism in Gabes,” commented Shaykh Slah Nacef.

Mirrors of Babel is yet another project based on unity in diversity. The work in an installation in Toronto that proposes an inversion of the Biblical story explaining why people around the globe speak different languages. According to the story, a united humanity in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language, and migrating eastward, agreed to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing their city and tower, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world.

On his website el Seed while describing the project has wrote that, “The very act of rebuilding the Tower of Babel from language (or lettering) is a symbolic move, underlining a key part of my practice: that the Arabic language can unite us through its aesthetic beauty. It is also a tribute to the pluralist community of the Toronto. The city itself has one of the most diverse populations in the world and rather than be divided by their native tongues, its people are united by the common language. The artwork, made of mirrors that reflect the images of those who see it, is a visual testament to this unity, which inspired me to investigate the original myth.”

El Seed’s work has been shown in exhibitions and in public places all over the world including most notably on the facade of “l’institut du monde Arabe” in Paris, in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, on the DMZ between North and South Korea, in the slums of Cape Town and in the heart of Cairo’s garbage collector’sneighbourhood.

In 2021, eL Seed was selected by the World Economic Forums as one of the Young Global Leader for his vision and influence to drive positive change in the world.In 2019, he won “The international award for public art” for his project “perception” in Cairo.In 2017, he won the Unesco Sharjah prize for Arab Culture. He was named a global Thinker in 2016 by Foreign Policy for his project “Perception”. In 2015, the international organization TED recognized him as one of the year’s TED Fellows, for advocating peaceful expression and social progress through his work. He has also collaborated with Louis Vuitton on their famous “Foulard d’artistes.”

Chinese Ink Wash Painting

A style of Chinese ink brush painting known as “ink wash Painting” employs various concentrations of black ink, similar to that used in Asian calligraphy. It first appeared during China’s Tang dynasty (618–907) and replaced earlier, more realistic methods. A lot of emphasis is placed on virtuoso brushwork and communicating the perceived “spirit” or “essence” of a subject over direct imitation. It is typically monochrome, using only shades of black. Ink wash painting flourished from the Song dynasty in China (960–1279) onwards, as well as in Japan after it was introduced by Zen Buddhist monks in the 14th century.

One of the “four arts” that China’s class of scholar-officials was expected to learn was brush painting, which was a form of Chinese painting. Ink wash painting or brush painting has been divided into two schools, the clearer, grander Northern School Beizonghua or Beihua and the freer, more expressive Southern School Nanzonghua or Nanhua, also known as “Literati Painting.”

According to the majority of East Asian writing on aestheticsInk and wash paintings aim to capture a subject’s spirit rather than just replicate its appearance, In order to paint a horse, the ink wash painter must be more familiar with the animal’s temperament than with its muscles and bones. It is important to convey the life and fragrance of a flower when painting it, even if the petals and colours do not exactly match. It has been compared to Western Impressionism’s later movements.

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