crystal payday job may Tanuja may xfr
Kelly I forgot I was going to start in
Hindi but I practice anyway so now a few
years ago I decided to go on a road trip
in Tunisia to create art pieces in the
most random places of the country now I
never thought this artistic journey will
make me discover so much human stories
history cultural heritage about my own
country so the initial idea was just to
highlight some beauty and diversity of
the country at a time just after the
Revolution where all the attention was
focused on political issue so I just use
art as a pretext to to take this journey
so I learned that during the French
protectorate jealous I used to be one of
the wealthiest city of Tunisia because
of the steel industry used to be called
uppity Paris because of the European
architecture and the diversity of the
community living in the city at this
time some old man told me that actually
the steel of cheresa is the one that
built the Eiffel Tower in Paris so
publicly today I can say that the effort
tower is Tunisian I remember entering a
small town called Sarah dead were
immediately spotted a word that I wanted
to paint so I went to a cafe where some
guys and I asked guys if is it okay for
me to paint this wall and some guys here
it’s my house so Nora’s go for it and
then when I was in the middle of the
process this odd man came to me yelling
at me telling me what are you doing you
think I’m dead for you to paint in my
house and I was confused I was like this
guy for me that was his house and say no
this is mine you need to erase that
right now so I told him please let me
just finish I take a picture and then I
erase it so he agreed on that and
actually when I was over I was almost
done he sent to his nephew to me telling
me that actually is anger like the piece
and you wanted to keep it yeah
so it’s interesting to see how people
are sensitive to art you know and how
you can easily switch perception or
or open a dialogue or just connect with
people in this trip
imagine we got arrested by the army and
you know after a while explaining the
purpose of the project the captain of
the army loved the idea and said guys
I’m getting married in few days in this
city and actually that was a city were
planning to go so that was kind of
amazing
you know when you create something
inside the community you bring out this
feeling of pride and that’s how it’s
easy to connect with people I remember
this man telling me that sometime you
need somebody from outside to tell you a
beautiful you are
and I want today you know to keep doing
this to show the beauty of people and
community that I visit show the beauty
of different culture and being able you
know like to keep doing what I do it
might sound weird to you but Arabic
script despite all the misconception and
when stereotype attached to it is the
medium that I use to connect with people
it was all born out of Christ’s identity
crisis I was born and raised in France
from Tunisian parents so when I was a
teenager I felt that I have to make a
choice between my French or my Tunisian
identity I run to my Arabic roots so I
start learning how to read and write and
write Arabic at the age of 18 and later
on I realized that actually that was a
mistake I didn’t have to make any choice
and ironically Arabic calligraphy later
on made me accept my French identity and
in came it so I try to go beyond all the
stereotype a stereotype attached to my
culture I use Arabic script as a tool to
build bridges between community people
generation and culture and I try to
spread respect tolerance and acceptance
amongst communities as well and I always
insist on the fact that Arabic script
has this Universal dimension a universal
beauty that you don’t need to translate
anybody it has a power that anybody can
feel good or bad no one is insensitive
to it
there is like any form of art there is
different layer of looking at my pieces
the first layer is the aesthetic is
what’s catch the attention of people the
other layer the messages and the
political or social context when
creating my art piece writing messages
is the essence of my artwork always
write messages that are relevant to the
place where I’m painting but messages
that of this Universal dimension so
anybody around the world can relate to
it you know what Arabic script is easily
recognizable and it’s funny to see how
people are intrigued by it at the
beginning but as soon as you explain the
meaning behind it they feel connected to
the piece so I decided actually to use
art as a way for me to enter places and
communities that most of the people
would tell me not to go for example in
Brazil in Rio de Janeiro I went to
Vidigal favela where I painted this
rooftop
I used the word of Brazilian poet that I
translated from Portuguese to to Arabic
and this world today disappeared it was
erased but what is interesting is the
story behind it I try to reach this
woman while I was in Brazil I couldn’t
get in touch with her but somebody a
friend of mine managed to find her and
show her the piece of art and show her
told her the story and then she reach me
on Facebook to thank me and I was really
touched by a small message
I remember in Melbourne this 8 years old
girl she took my hand while I was
painting and she told me I would like to
talk to you in private so she took me
and sat on some stairs and then she said
that you know I want to become an artist
like you I love animals and of nature
and tele whoop I see who’s from another
city in somewhere an outsider and she
asked me to to keep it with her so I can
always remember her and I pray that one
day maybe in 20 years I will see her
like and she will be like you know like
you establish artists and actually I
kept my promise I always have like this
little piece of Maya on my wallet so for
me art is just
a text to create human experience to
connect with people and I think some
time I leave something in people’s life
but actually the other one will leave
something in mind and I think all those
times I create are just the continuity
of all those all those human experiences
few months ago I went to one of the most
amazing place I ever visited in my life
called banshee at NASA which is the
neighborhood of the Cairo garbage
collector in Egypt when I tell you
garbage you must ask yourself what can
be amazing about the garbage city so
this Coptic Christian community have
been collecting the garbage of Cairo for
decades and they developed one of the
most powerful recycling system on a
global level but still this community’s
seeing scene as dirty marginalized and
segregated because of their association
with trash so when you enter the
neighborhood there’s a smell of the
garbage the noise everything is
overbearing but it looks chaotic but
everything is perfectly organized so my
initial idea was just an artistic
challenge I wanted to to change myself
by creating an anamorphic piece that you
can fully see from one point of view
like when you climb the bottom mountain
this mountain that overlooked the
neighborhood so fast enough I realized
that it was not about this artistic
challenge it was more about creating
this human experience in connecting
actually with this community that had so
misconception about so it took us one
year to plan the wall project and almost
a month to create the to create the art
piece it was difficult
so there was like feel like deep doubt
in difficulties fears and stress he was
it was not easy at all
to work in such an environment you know
sometime like having pigs under you
because they like original pigs breeder
so they have you have pigs under your
while you paint or you need to climb a
stack of garbage to to get on the lift
but you forget about all those difficult
condition because of the kindness of all
those people you know in every floor
that we were reaching with those lifts
somebody was opening the window offering
us a cup of tea so imagine like when you
have like a five storey building you
need to drink five cups of tea because
in Egypt you cannot send out to tea and
I think like here it took us like three
weeks some more than three weeks to
finish but it could have gone faster if
we didn’t took all those tea breaks so
imagine you go at somebody’s house you
knock at his door and you say hey can
you serve me a cup of water and today
you give me like a can of soda and next
week you invite me to your house to have
lunch with you and after two weeks we’re
going to play soccer and then go to your
cousin’s wedding and after like a month
you will cry when I live the guy will
look at you and say you’re crazy but if
you go to somebody’s house and you say
look I’m an artist I would like to paint
the face out of your building so the
first day will offer you like a cup of
tea and then after a week you will
invite you to a twist house and then
after two weeks you’re going to play
soccer with him and yeah and then maybe
also go to twist family’s wedding and
and yes and then when you live actually
he might cry and this is exactly what
one day a book Oh God thank you yeah
manifold justice so it was not it was
not about actually this it was not about
like just an art project it was more
like a project to question our level of
misconception judgment we can have upon
communities that we are that we don’t
know you know today the actually the
species starting disappearing because
some people are building floors in front
of the in front of the art piece and my
art by essence is ephemeral you know
most of the pieces that I created all
around the world has disappeared but
what gives inside me and most of the
people that I allowed that I met are all
those little stories and memories that
I’m that I witness you know as a human
being and I’m able to share with you
today thank you [Applause]