In 2012, when I painted the minaret of Jara Mosque in my hometown of Gabés, in the south of Tunisia, I never thought that graffiti would bring so much attention to a city.
2012 年 我响我家鄉,突尼斯嘅加貝斯 幫哈拉清真寺髹油嗰陣 從來都冇諗過 塗鴉可以令咁多人關注一個城市
At the beginning, I was just looking for a wall in my hometown, and it happened that the minaret was built in '94. And for 18 years, those 57 meters of concrete stayed grey. When I met the imam for the first time, and I told him what I wanted to do, he was like, "Thank God you finally came," and he told me that for years he was waiting for somebody to do something on it. The most amazing thing about this imam is that he didn't ask me anything -- neither a sketch, or what I was going to write.
我最初純粹想喺鄉下搵一幅牆 無意間得知 呢座尖塔自 1994 年起好之後 幅 57 米高嘅石屎牆 18 年嚟都冇粉飾過 我第一次同教長見面嗰時 我講佢知我嘅諗法 佢就話:「謝天謝地,你終於嚟喇!」 佢同我講 咁多年嚟,佢都希望有人粉飾幅牆 最正嘅係 呢個教長冇問過我任何嘢 無論係畫乜,定係我想寫乜
In every work that I create, I write messages with my style of calligraffiti -- a mix of calligraphy and graffiti. I use quotes or poetry. For the minaret, I thought that the most relevant message to be put on a mosque should come from the Quran, so I picked this verse: "Oh humankind, we have created you from a male and a female, and made you people and tribe, so you may know each other." It was a universal call for peace, tolerance, and acceptance coming from the side that we don't usually portray in a good way in the media.
每次我創作塗鴉 我都會用一種屬於我嘅風格 揉合咗書法同塗鴉 我會引用一啲語錄或者詩句 我諗既然係座寺廟 寫上可蘭經經文就最啱喇 所以我揀咗呢句 「眾人啊! 我確已從一男一女創造你們, 我使你們成為許多民族和宗族, 以便你們互相認識。」 呢句表達咗回教徒對世界大同嘅渴求 同傳媒所塑造嘅回教並唔一樣
I was amazed to see how the local community reacted to the painting, and how it made them proud to see the minaret getting so much attention from international press all around the world. For the imam, it was not just the painting; it was really deeper than that. He hoped that this minaret would become a monument for the city, and attract people to this forgotten place of Tunisia. The universality of the message, the political context of Tunisia at this time, and the fact that I was writing Quran in a graffiti way were not insignificant. It reunited the community.
我好鼓舞,因為家鄉嘅人好鍾意幅塗鴉 而各地都有報導呢幅塗鴉 令到地方嘅人引以為傲 對教長嚟講,呢幅唔止係塗鴉 背後意義深遠得多 教長希望尖塔可以 代表到呢個城市 吸引人到訪呢個 被遺忘嘅突尼斯小城 塗鴉所盛載嘅信念 突尼斯而家嘅局勢 同埋我嘅可蘭經塗鴉 全部都意義重大 因為佢哋將人凝聚起嚟
Bringing people, future generations, together through Arabic calligraphy is what I do. Writing messages is the essence of my artwork. What is funny, actually, is that even Arabic-speaking people really need to focus a lot to decipher what I'm writing. You don't need to know the meaning to feel the piece. I think that Arabic script touches your soul before it reaches your eyes. There is a beauty in it that you don't need to translate. Arabic script speaks to anyone, I believe; to you, to you, to you, to anybody, and then when you get the meaning, you feel connected to it. I always make sure to write messages that are relevant to the place where I'm painting, but messages that have a universal dimension, so anybody around the world can connect to it.
我好想帶領群眾同下一代 一齊領略阿拉伯文嘅書法 文字訊息係我創作嘅精髓 有趣嘅係 連講阿拉伯話嘅人 都要花時間思考我寫嘅訊息 即使睇唔明,亦可以心領神會 我諗阿拉伯文字就係未見其字 就已經可以同我哋嘅靈魂接觸 當中嘅美麗,超越一切語言 阿拉伯嘅文字會向人說話 向你,向你,向你,向所有人 當你掌握到段文字嘅意思 你會馬上心領神會 我次次髹油都同自己講 寫嘅訊息要同個地方有關 但同時要關乎整個世界 以至全世界嘅人都有所共鳴
I was born and raised in France, in Paris, and I started learning how to write and read Arabic when I was 18. Today I only write messages in Arabic. One of the reasons this is so important to me, is because of all the reaction that I've experienced all around the world.
我喺巴黎出世同長大 我 18 歲嗰年開始學阿拉伯文 而家我只會用阿拉伯文創作 呢種堅持之所以咁重要 係源於各地嘅人向我表達過嘅感受
In Rio de Janeiro, I translated this Portuguese poem from Gabriela Tôrres Barbosa, who was giving an homage to the poor people of the favela, and then I painted it on the rooftop. The local community were really intrigued by what I was doing, but as soon as I gave them the meaning of the calligraphy, they thanked me, as they felt connected to the piece.
喺里約熱內盧 我翻譯過一篇 詩人 Gabriela Tôrres Barbosa 嘅詩 詩歌頌揚貧民窟嘅人 然後我將呢首詩寫咗喺天棚 當地人初初唔明我做緊乜 但當我解釋咗首詩畀佢哋聽 佢哋好感動 因為覺得有所共鳴
In South Africa, in Cape Town, the local community of Philippi offered me the only concrete wall of the slum. It was a school, and I wrote on it a quote from Nelson Mandela, saying, "[in Arabic]," which means, "It seems impossible until it's done." Then this guy came to me and said, "Man, why you don't write in English?" and I replied to him, "I would consider your concern legit if you asked me why I didn't write in Zulu."
喺南非開普敦嘅菲歷彼貧民窟 裡面唯一嘅石屎牆, 就係學校嘅外牆 我寫咗一句曼德拉嘅名言 就係「 [ 阿拉伯文 ] 」 意思係「人成功前,總認定會失敗」 然係有個人走嚟問︰ 「做乜唔用英文寫啫?」 我就答佢:「我會聽你講嘅, 如果你係問我 點解唔用祖魯文寫嘅話。」
In Paris, once, there was this event, and someone gave his wall to be painted. And when he saw I was painting in Arabic, he got so mad -- actually, hysterical -- and he asked for the wall to be erased. I was mad and disappointed. But a week later, the organizer of the event asked me to come back, and he told me that there was a wall right in front of this guy's house. So, this guy -- (Laughter) like, was forced to see it every day. At the beginning, I was going to write, "[In Arabic]," which means, "In your face," but -- (Laughter) I decided to be smarter and I wrote, "[In Arabic]," which means, "Open your heart."
巴黎曾經有一個活動 有個人想人哋為佢髹牆 當佢見我喺牆上 用阿拉伯文字塗鴉嘅時候 佢成個人癲咗,失控咁滯 並且要求鏟走幅塗鴉 嗰刻我又嬲又失望 過咗一個禮拜,統籌單位叫我返去 話我知嗰個人間屋係對住一幅牆 所以,呢個人… (笑聲) 就被逼日日對住幅塗鴉 起初,我喺幅牆度寫 [ 阿拉伯文 ] 即係解「就喺你面前」 (笑聲) 之後我靈機一觸 寫咗做「[ 阿拉伯文 ]」 解「打開心扉」
I'm really proud of my culture, and I'm trying to be an ambassador of it through my artwork. And I hope that I can break the stereotypes we all know, with the beauty of Arabic script. Today, I don't write the translation of the message anymore on the wall. I don't want the poetry of the calligraphy to be broken, as it's art and you can appreciate it without knowing the meaning, as you can enjoy any music from other countries. Some people see that as a rejection or a closed door, but for me, it's more an invitation -- to my language, to my culture, and to my art.
我為我嘅文化而自豪 我希望用藝術去宣揚我嘅文化 我希望借助美麗嘅阿拉伯文字 去打破大家嘅成見 今日,我唔再喺牆上翻譯我嘅文字 我唔想破壞書法同詩歌嘅美 詩係藝術,唔需要言明,亦感悟得到 正如我哋會聽唔同語言嘅音樂一樣 有人認為咁樣係製造緊隔膜 但我反而覺得係一個邀請 邀請大家去體會我嘅母語、文化同創作
Thank you.
多謝!
(Applause)
(掌聲)