Graffiti in the Middle East

by Esra'a (Bahrain)

Graffiti can be considered a form of inner-city literacy. If you notice, in areas like small villages, walls serve as a medium which certain people use to express themselves. You walk past the little streets and all you see is words, images, thoughtful themes and even poems. A lot of them are politically and religiously motivated, the others are more social (for example, gangsters used to use it to mark their turfs.)

Here’s the great thing. If you write something controversial or inspiring on any wall, you will most likely get a response. It’s like blogging, but in art and physical form. People use it to promote all kinds of causes, even events. And I figured we should do the same, how cool would that be?

I found a fascinating video, which I’d like to share, it’s about a calligraffiti workshop which aims to educate people about the origin of the Malay Jawi script and the art of the traditional Arab calligraphy merging with modern street art graffiti. Very cool!

Check it out (the workshop is taking place at the Askara festival in Singapore, so you might not be able to understand what’s being said but they show examples throughout the video.)

Here’s another example of graffiti serving a more “social” role, it’s a video of a Lebanese rap group doing some graffiti work (most likely to promote themselves):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGc6apce3EU[/youtube]

In this particular case, it has no political or philosophical significance, it’s just used for promotional purposes. A lot of graffiti is like that. I’m a bigger fan of the real stuff, or what I’d like to call the “stop and think” type of art. It draws you in completely and can also be very inspirational. These ones are usually politically oriented. Banksy is the perfect definition of an influential graffiti artist.

Overall, I find graffiti very fascinating, whatever the purpose is. Sure it could be considered a “crime” if done in the wrong areas (private schools, private homes, etc) but if you find the right spot you can definitely start things as big as a movement just through this form of street art, which anyone can be exposed to. I love it. It’s like an artistic sub-culture which a lot of youth in the region can relate to, myself included.