By: Sarah Sabra

 

Everyday as the city sleeps graffiti artists arise. The dawn turns into a safe haven to the awake as much

as it does to the asleep: allowing voiceless to have a voice, the oppressed to feel free and the

unrecognized to be glorified.

But the stakes for graffiti artists are high in a city like Cairo.

“It’s too complicated, while trying to spread our art, we’re always in risk that someone would get 

arrested or chased,” said a 23-year-old artist whose name will not be published for his safety. 

Graffiti drawing is a type of street art, which involves drawing inscriptions and graphics on different

surfaces; mainly walls.

Graffiti is a growing activity in Egypt but is considered illegal by authorities.

 

A close up on a graffiti Artist

 

“I started drawing since I was a child,” the artist said. Even though the young artist discovered his talent during his early years, he never thought of perusing art as a career. However, he started developing his talent by taking extra-curricular courses, where he learned to draw caricatures and portraits. The talented artist later graduated from the German University in Cairo with a degree in Management and worked in his family business afterwards.

 

The revolution graffiti

 

Before the infamous 2011 Egyptian revolution, which toppled former president Hosni Mubarak, graffiti was a mean to promote the reformation of public space through social exchange and positive culture. Graffiti was mostly displaying advertisements, religious or romantic drawings.

 Under Mubarak’s rule, which lasted for nearly three decades, Graffiti was considered illegal and classified by authorities and some of the public as a "misdemeanor."

“From New Cairo to Mohandseen, you’d only find one drawing by an anonymous person because of the danger it puts the artist in from accusations of vandalism and more,” said the artist.

The young artist turned to Graffiti art with the uprising “revolutionary graffiti” that opened the door to many other artists as a way to express their emotions and political views through creative drawings on the walls. "Graffiti in Tahrir Square was so new that when the uprising started, the artists first had to declare that their intentions were noble," said Mia Grondahl, a Swedish journalist based in Cairo, during a speech at Duke University in 2013.

At the time, the artists believed that they were key contributors to the revolution, delivering messages through their art as an alternative media to the thousands of people who couldn’t read nor write but can be touched by their colorful illustrations on the streets. 

“I might be an educated person, other artists are not educated at all, but they’re talented and they believe that graffiti art can make a change,” the artist explained.

 

Oppression, struggles and risks

 

Under the current military rule, the Graffiti artists are no longer free to express their feelings through wall art. In their attempt to fight terrorism, the ruling authority has promised a crackdown on any form of expression, which “destabilizes” the country.

One night, the young artist sneaked out with a group of friends to “Mohamed Mahmoud” street, a famous street near Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo and a famous protest area. The young men assigned members in the group to watch out for them one each side of the road. While the artist and his friends were drawing on the walls they heard the sound of police sirens approaching. They ran away as fast as they could, loosing trail of one, whom they never heard from ever since.

The artist may not be in jail, but he says he sometimes feels like he is behind bars. He is often called names and accused of being a terrorist or a traitor by the public and media for drawing art that depicts or criticizes members of the military.

“The fact that people do not appreciate our art and criticize us is what we mostly suffer from,” the artist explained, “our Graffiti drawings have nothing to do with any political agenda.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glorifying the Martyrs

 

On February 2012, the enthusiast artist was briefly expelled from university for drawing art glorifying a former colleague “Karim Khouzam” who had been killed during massive riot at Port Said stadium following an Egyptian Premier League football game in 2012, were at least 70 people were killed and more than 500 were injured. A number of activists have accused the military for staging the attacks to get back at Ultras Ahlawy, a group of Al-Ahly football club fans who were known for their anti-military chants.

“Freedoms are oppressed. All we need is a place to express our art instead of sneaking out in the dark,” the man said in objection.

Not only the authorities that oppress the artists’ freedom of expression, but also the university that refused to keep a memory of its student. As a result, the talented artists get back to sneaking out during the nights, in hope to deliver their message one way or another.

“People estimate that Graffiti artists are doing something wrong although it’s all about the underlying message I’m trying to spread, that a journalist can spread through his writings and an actor through his acting.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evolving Graffiti Artists

 

Through the ongoing events, history, changing traditions and culture contemporary artists were emerging mostly in Alexandria and Cairo.

Nowadays as Graffiti started to evolve more and more everyday despite any risks, people started creating campaigns licensed by the government to display their arts indoors and outdoors in different places. “Women on Walls” started a successful five-days graffiti campaign this year, which gathered street artists from Tunisia, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Syria, Sweden, Tunis and Egypt to draw murals on the Greek Campus of downtown Cairo, under the theme “Unchained” participating in the 4th edition D-CAF, supported by the Swedish Institute and Centre for Culture and Development (CKU).

Mona Kelah, the co-founder of WOW, along with Mia Grondahl, Hesham El Kelesh and others wanted to emphasize women empowerment and their rights to freedom through this project, “it is about a very important social issue; the restrictions we face in life, from people or society,” Mona said.  

Mia Grondhal, the founder of WOW, points out that “The idea is not only to support women’s rights but also to encourage female graffiti artists and provide them with safe walls to do their art in peace.”

Although the government finally legalized some of the unthreatening, non-political artworks, they’re still somehow restricted in different ways, “there is also a Bahranian Artist, Mariam El Hatch, wanted to build a nude sculpture with bandages and plasters in the Greek campus, but they wouldn’t approve of this, unfortunately,” Mona Kelah added, “we are talking about freedom, yet we’re still restricted, but what can we do, we can’t control it.”

Mona believed that the idea of Graffiti was already there regardless of the rise of the revolution as we’re in the globalization era.
“ART isn’t limited to galleries and educational areas only, anymore,” She said.

In her opinion, Graffiti message is one of the most important messages, although words can directly deliver a message and Art delivers it in an indirect way, yet ART provokes the viewer to interact with the cause of the Artwork.

“For example, if you drew a chained woman on the wall, the viewer would interact more with the female figure more than reading about it,” She emphasized.

Graffiti is more appealing to the uneducated people as visuals are more provoking for the human minds and this is important.

 

Ongoing restrictions and attacks on Graffiti Artists
 

Attacks and restrictions seem to be an ongoing boundary to Graffiti artists; first from the government and now from the public. By the end of the WOW event, people started to attack the project, claiming that they’re vandalizing the walls of Mohamed Mahmoud Street; a significant road considered by most graffiti artists as a cemetery where they drew figures of the revolution’s martyrs.

“This is not the first time the project was subject to aggression,” Mia said.
Since the beginning of the WOW event in 2013, the founders of the project have been attacked repeatedly; asked for money in return of their safety.

Mia had posted on her Facebook that she has been called a “‘whore’, ‘the old woman’, and ‘witch’.” Her face has been stenciled on the walls, showing a woman full of dollars and shit. “Most recently I’ve received threats,” She added.
 

Mia Grondhal, Mona Kelah and other founders are devastated by people’s reactions especially the artists, “it is sad, because we were hoping that street artists who claim to be ‘revolutionaries’ would not actually attack projects that support women and their rights,” Mia said.