Street Art for Hope and Peace | eL Seed | TED Talks

Translator: Sune Vilsted Østergaard Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

In 2012, when I painted the minaret of Jara Mosque

I 2012 da jeg malede minareten af Jara Moskéen

in my hometown of Gabés, in the south of Tunisia,

i min hjemby Gabés, i det sydlige Tunesien,

I never thought that graffiti would bring so much attention to a city.

havde jeg aldrig troet, at grafitti ville bringe så meget opmærksomhed til en by.

At the beginning, I was just looking for a wall in my hometown,

I begyndelsen var jeg kun på udkig efter en mur i min hjemby

and it happened that the minaret was built in '94.

og det viste sig, at minareten var bygget i 1994.

And for 18 years, those 57 meters of concrete stayed grey.

Og i de 18 år, forblev de 57 meter af beton gråt.

When I met the imam for the first time, and I told him what I wanted to do,

Da jeg mødte imamen for første gang og jeg fortalte ham hvad jeg ville gøre,

he was like, "Thank God you finally came,"

var han ligesom, "Gudskelov, du er endelig kommet,"

and he told me that for years he was waiting for somebody

og han fortalte mig at i årevis havde han ventet for nogen

to do something on it.

til at gøre noget ved det.

The most amazing thing about this imam is that he didn't ask me anything --

Det mest fantastiske ved den her imam er, at han ikke spurgte mig omkring noget --

neither a sketch, or what I was going to write.

hverken en skitse, eller hvad jeg havde tænkt mig at skrive.

In every work that I create, I write messages

I hvert kunstværk som jeg skaber, skriver jeg budskaber

with my style of calligraffiti -- a mix of calligraphy and graffiti.

med min kalligraffiti stil -- en blanding af kalligrafi og graffiti.

I use quotes or poetry.

Jeg bruger citater eller poesi.

For the minaret, I thought that the most relevant message

For minareten mente jeg, at det mest relevante budskab

to be put on a mosque should come from the Quran,

til at putte på en moské burde komme fra Koranen,

so I picked this verse:

så jeg valgte et vers:

"Oh humankind, we have created you from a male and a female,

"Åh menneskehed, vi har skabt dig fra en mand og en kvinde,"

and made you people and tribe, so you may know each other."

og givet jer mennesker og stammer, så I kan kende hinanden."

It was a universal call for peace, tolerance, and acceptance

Det var et universelt råb for fred, tolerance og accept,

coming from the side that we don't usually portray in a good way in the media.

der kommer fra den side vi normalt ikke fremstiller på en god måde i medierne.

I was amazed to see how the local community reacted to the painting,

Jeg var forbløffet over, hvordan det lokale samfund tog imod maleriet

and how it made them proud to see the minaret getting so much attention

og hvordan det gjorde dem stolt at se minareten få så meget opmærksomhed

from international press all around the world.

af international presse fra hele verden.

For the imam, it was not just the painting;

For imamen var det ikke kun maleriet;

it was really deeper than that.

det var meget dybere end det.

He hoped that this minaret would become a monument for the city,

Han håbede, at minareten kunne blive et monument for byen

and attract people to this forgotten place of Tunisia.

og tiltrække folk til dette glemte sted i Tunesien.

The universality of the message,

Det universelle af budskabet,

the political context of Tunisia at this time,

det politiske indhold af Tunesien på tidspunktet

and the fact that I was writing Quran in a graffiti way

og kendsgerningen at jeg skrev Koranen på en graffiti måde

were not insignificant.

var ikke uden betydning.

It reunited the community.

Det forenede fællesskabet.

Bringing people, future generations,

At bringe folk, fremtidige generationer,

together through Arabic calligraphy

sammen igennem arabisk kalligrafi

is what I do.

er hvad jeg gør.

Writing messages is the essence of my artwork.

At skrive budskaber er essensen af mit kunsthåndværk.

What is funny, actually, is that even Arabic-speaking people

Hvad der faktisk er sjovt er, at selv arabisktalende personer

really need to focus a lot to decipher what I'm writing.

har virkelig brug for at fokusere for, at kunne afkode hvad jeg skriver.

You don't need to know the meaning to feel the piece.

Man behøver ikke at kende meningen for at føle værket.

I think that Arabic script touches your soul before it reaches your eyes.

Jeg tror, at arabiske skrifttegn rører din sjæl før det når dine øjne.

There is a beauty in it that you don't need to translate.

Der er en skønhed i det, som man ikke behøver at oversætte.

Arabic script speaks to anyone, I believe;

Arabiske skrifttegn taler til alle, mener jeg;

to you, to you, to you, to anybody,

til dig, til dig, til dig, til alle.

and then when you get the meaning,

og når man så forstår meningen,

you feel connected to it.

føler man sig forbundet til det.

I always make sure to write messages

Jeg gør mig altid umage med, at skrive budskaber,

that are relevant to the place where I'm painting,

som er relevante til det sted, hvor jeg maler,

but messages that have a universal dimension,

men budskaber der har en universel dimension,

so anybody around the world can connect to it.

så enhver over hele verden kan forbinde sig til det.

I was born and raised in France, in Paris,

Jeg var født og opvokset i Frankrig, i Paris,

and I started learning how to write and read Arabic when I was 18.

og jeg startede med at lære, at skrive og læse arabisk da jeg var 18.

Today I only write messages in Arabic.

I dag skriver jeg kun budskaber i arabisk.

One of the reasons this is so important to me,

Èn af grundene til, at det er vigtigt for mig,

is because of all the reaction that I've experienced all around the world.

er på grund af alle reaktionerne, som jeg har oplevet over hele verden.

In Rio de Janeiro, I translated this Portuguese poem

I Rio de Janeiro oversatte jeg et portugisisk digt

from Gabriela Tôrres Barbosa,

fra Gabriela Tôrres Barbosa,

who was giving an homage to the poor people of the favela,

som hyldede de fattige mennesker fra slummen,

and then I painted it on the rooftop.

og jeg malede det på taget.

The local community were really intrigued by what I was doing,

Det lokale samfund var nysgerrig omkring hvad jeg lavede,

but as soon as I gave them the meaning of the calligraphy,

men så snart at jeg gav dem meningen af kalligrafien

they thanked me, as they felt connected to the piece.

takkede de mig, da de følte sig forbundet til værket.

In South Africa, in Cape Town,

I Sydafrika, i Cape Town,

the local community of Philippi

det lokale samfund i Philippi

offered me the only concrete wall of the slum.

tilbød mig den eneste betonvæg i slummen.

It was a school, and I wrote on it

Det var en skole og jeg skrev på den

a quote from Nelson Mandela,

et citat fra Nelson Mandela,

saying, "[in Arabic],"

som sagde, "[på arabisk],"

which means, "It seems impossible until it's done."

der betyder, "Det virker umuligt indtil det er gjort."

Then this guy came to me and said, "Man, why you don't write in English?"

En fyr kom hen til mig og sagde, "Hvorfor skriver du ikke på engelsk?"

and I replied to him, "I would consider your concern legit if you asked me

og svarede, "Jeg ville anse dit spørgsmål som gyldig, hvis du havde spurgt mig,"

why I didn't write in Zulu."

hvorfor jeg ikke skriver i zulu."

In Paris, once, there was this event,

Der var engang i Paris, den her begivenhed

and someone gave his wall to be painted.

og nogen gav mig en væg, der skulle males.

And when he saw I was painting in Arabic,

Og da han så, at jeg malede på arabisk,

he got so mad -- actually, hysterical -- and he asked for the wall to be erased.

blev han så vred -- faktisk hysterisk -- og bad om at væggen blev slettet.

I was mad and disappointed.

Jeg var vred og skuffet.

But a week later, the organizer of the event asked me to come back,

Men en uge senere bad arrangøren af begivenheden mig om at komme tilbage,

and he told me that there was a wall right in front of this guy's house.

og han fortalte mig, at der stadig var en væg lige foran fyrens hus.

So, this guy --

Så ham fyren --

(Laughter)

(Latter)

like, was forced to see it every day.

blev tvunget til at se på det hver dag.

At the beginning, I was going to write, "[In Arabic],"

I starten havde jeg tænkt mig at skrive, "[på arabisk],"

which means, "In your face," but --

der betyder, "I dit fjæs," men --

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I decided to be smarter and I wrote, "[In Arabic],"

Jeg valgte at være smartere og jeg skrev, "[på arabisk],"

which means, "Open your heart."

der betyder, "Åben dit hjerte."

I'm really proud of my culture,

Jeg er virkeligt stolt af min kultur,

and I'm trying to be an ambassador of it through my artwork.

og jeg prøver at være en ambassadør af det gennem mit kunsthåndværk.

And I hope that I can break the stereotypes we all know,

Og jeg håber, at jeg kan bryde stereotypen som vi alle kender

with the beauty of Arabic script.

med skønheden af arabiske skrifttegn.

Today, I don't write the translation of the message anymore on the wall.

I dag skriver jeg ikke oversættelsen af budskabet længere på væggen.

I don't want the poetry of the calligraphy to be broken,

Jeg vil ikke have, at poesien af kalligrafien skal være ødelagt

as it's art and you can appreciate it without knowing the meaning,

da det er kunst og man kan påskønne det uden at kende meningen,

as you can enjoy any music from other countries.

ligesom man kan nyde musik fra andre lande.

Some people see that as a rejection or a closed door,

Nogen mennesker ser det som en afvisning eller en lukket dør,

but for me, it's more an invitation --

men for mig er det mere en invitation --

to my language, to my culture, and to my art.

til mit sprog, til min kultur og til min kunst.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)