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.
在2012年,當我在位於 突尼斯南部的故鄉Gabés 繪製Jara Mosque清真寺的圖像的時候 從未想過塗鴉會 給一座城市帶來如此大魅力。
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.
起初,我只是在故鄉 尋找一堵牆, 碰巧這座尖塔建於1994年。 18年來,這些57米高的 混凝土牆一直是一片灰濛濛的。 首次見到伊瑪目(清真寺內率穆斯林做禮拜的人)時, 我把自己想做的事情告訴了他, 他當時的反應就像“謝天謝地,終於等到你了” 他告訴我,數年來 都在等待一個人 能對這堵牆做點什麼。 最難以置信的是這位伊瑪目 對此並沒有任何過問—— 既沒讓我提供草圖, 也沒詢問我要寫什麼內容。
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.
在每件創作的作品中, 我借助融入個人風格的書法塗鴉 一種書法和塗鴉混合體 傳遞要表達的資訊。 我引用箴言和詩句。 就(清真寺的)尖塔而言, 我認為最適合寫在 清真寺牆壁上的名言 應當來自《古蘭經》, 因此,我摘錄了以下詩句: “哦,人類,我們創造出你們 男人和女人, 創造出民族和部落, 讓你們相識相知,” 這是對和平、寬容和接納 的共同呼喚, 因為媒體中往往沒有 對這方面適當渲染。
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.
當瞭解到當地社區對繪畫的反應, 我感動驚訝不已 他們對這座(清真寺)尖塔 獲得如此多 來自國際媒體的關注 感到那麼的自豪。 對那位伊瑪目而言, 這不僅僅是一幅繪畫; 它的意義遠不止此。 他(伊瑪目)希望這座(清真寺)尖塔 成為這座城市的豐碑, 吸引各地遊客來到 突尼斯這處被遺忘之地。 這條資訊的普遍性, 此時突尼斯的 政治背景, 以及我以塗鴉的方式 書寫可蘭經的事實 都並非無關緊要的。 它使社區重新凝聚在一起。
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.
通過阿拉伯書法藝術, 將當代人、後代人聚在一起, 這正是我的用意所在。 通過書法傳達資訊 是我的作品之精髓。 事實上,相當有趣的是 即便母語為阿拉伯語者 也需要真正費一番精力 才能辨認出我的字跡。 你無需懂得文字本義 便可感知作品的真諦。 我認為阿拉伯文字體 在辨識之前就已觸動你的心靈。 美已經蘊含在文字本身 不需要去翻譯。 我相信,阿拉伯文能與任何人產生共鳴; 對你、你,還有你,對任何人都如此, 然後,當你獲知了真意, 會感到與之心意相通。 我一直盡力確保書寫的資訊 與我繪畫的地方密切相關, 但是資訊具有普適性維度, 因而世界各地的人都能與之心意相通。
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.
我出生並成長在法國巴黎, 我18歲時 就開始學習讀寫阿拉伯語。 而今天,我只用阿拉伯語塗鴉寓言。 這對我來說 很重要的原因之一, 是我在世界各地所體會到的反響。
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.
在里約熱內盧, 我翻譯的葡萄牙詩歌 來自於加布裡艾拉·托雷斯·巴博薩, 這位詩人用詩歌表達 對貧民窟的窮人的致敬, 我把這首詩塗鴉在屋頂上。 當地社區居民很好奇 我到底在做什麼, 但當我給他們講解 這首詩的含義的時候, 他們向我表示感謝, 因為他們認為這首詩與他們息息相關。
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."
在南非的開普敦, 當地一個名為腓立比的社區 為我提供了 貧民窟的僅有一面水泥牆。 這面牆位於一所學校內,我把詩歌書寫在牆上, 是納爾遜.曼德拉的詩歌的摘引, 這首詩是這樣的:“[阿拉伯文],” 其含義是:“在事情完成之前, 一切都看似不可能。” 這時一位貧民走過來對我說: “夥計,你為什麼不用英語寫?” 我回答他,“如果你問我 為什麼不用祖魯語寫, 我會好好考慮你的建議。”
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."
在巴黎,有一次,發生了這樣一件事情, 有人讓我在他的牆上塗鴉詩歌。 但當他看到我塗鴉的是阿拉伯語的時候, 他簡直快瘋了——實際上是歇斯底里—— 他要求把塗鴉在牆上的阿拉伯語擦除掉。 我對此感到抓狂和失望。 但一個星期後, 活動的組織者要求我回來, 他告訴我, 在這傢伙房屋正前面有一面牆。 所以,這傢伙—— (笑聲) 被迫天天看到這面牆。 在開始的時候,我打算寫:“[阿拉伯語],” 其含義是:“特立獨行(在你的臉上),”但是 - (笑聲) 我想要更聰明些,於是我寫道:“[在阿拉伯語中],” 其含義是,“敞開心扉(打開你的心臟)。”
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.
我很為我的文字功底感到自豪, 我試圖通過我的作品 成為一位大使。 我希望通過 使用阿拉伯文字的美感, 破除大家所熟知的陳規舊習。 今天,我再也不在牆上塗鴉 寓言的翻譯之意了。 我不想破壞 書法塗鴉的詩意, 因為書法塗鴉是一門藝術, 你可以欣賞它,即使不懂文意, 如同你可以欣賞 其他國家的音樂一樣。 有些人認為這是一種拒絕或關閉之門, 但對於我來說,這更是一種邀請—— 對於我的語言, 我的文化,以及我的藝術。
Thank you.
謝謝!
(Applause)