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

Translator: Shadia Ramsahye Reviewer: Ameerah Arjanee

In 2012, when I painted the minaret of Jara Mosque

An 2012 kan monn penn lor minare moske Jara

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

dan mo lavil natal Gabés dan lesid Tinizi,

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

zame mo ti panse ki grafiti kapav amenn otan latansion a enn lavil.

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

Pou koumanse, mo ti pe zis rod enn miray dan lavil la,

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

ek sa minare la ti konstrir an 1994.

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

Ek pandan 18 an, sa kolonn 57m la finn res gri.

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

Kan monn zwenn imam la premie fwa ek monn dir li ki mo anvi fer,

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

linn dir mwa, "Mo remersie bondie ki tonn vini".

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

Ek linn explik mwa depi komie banane li ti pe atann kikenn

to do something on it.

pu fer kitsoz avek sa.

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

Saki pli etonan avek sa misie la se ki li pann dimann mwa nanye --

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

ni ki desin ni ki mesaz mo pu ekrir.

In every work that I create, I write messages

Dan tou travay ki mo kre, mo ekrir bann mesaz

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

avek mo prop stil kaligrafiti -- enn melanz kaligrafi ek grafiti.

I use quotes or poetry.

Mo servi bann sitasion ou bann poem.

For the minaret, I thought that the most relevant message

Pou sa minare la, monn panse ki mesaz pli pertinan

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

pu met lor enn moske bizin enn verse depi Koran,

so I picked this verse:

alor monn swazir sann la:

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

"O limanite, nou finn kre zot depi enn mal ek enn femel,

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

ek nou finn fer zot enn lepep ek enn tribi pou zot konn zot kamarad."

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

Ti enn mesaz iniversel pou lape, tolerans ek linklizion,

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

enn mesaz ki montre kote positif de Islam ki nou pa trouve dan media.

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

Monn etone kouma kominote lokal inn reazir a sa lapintir la,

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

kouma sa inn fer zot fier ki sa minare la pe gagn otan latansion

from international press all around the world.

depi lapres internasional partou dan lemond.

For the imam, it was not just the painting;

Pou imam la, pa ti zis enn lapintir sa:

it was really deeper than that.

ti enn zafer pli profon.

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

Li ti pe espere ki minare la pou vinn enn moniman dan lavil

and attract people to this forgotten place of Tunisia.

ek atir viziter a sa landrwa ki dimounn finn blie dan Tinizi.

The universality of the message,

Lefet ki sa mesaz la iniversel,

the political context of Tunisia at this time,

kontex politik dan Tinizi sa lepok la

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

ek lefet ki mo ti pe ekrir Koran dan enn stil grafiti

were not insignificant.

finn ena boukou pwa.

It reunited the community.

Sa finn rasanble kominote.

Bringing people, future generations,

Fer dimounn, bann zenerasion fitir,

together through Arabic calligraphy

vinn ansam atraver kaligrafi arab,

is what I do.

samem mo travay.

Writing messages is the essence of my artwork.

Ekrir bann mesaz, samem lesans mo travay artistik.

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

Saki komik se ki mem bann dimounn ki konn lir arab

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

bizin konsantre boukou pou kapav desifre saki monn ekrir.

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

Ou pa oblize konpran sinifikasion pou apresie travay la.

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

Mo panse ki lekritir arab tous ou lam avan li tous ou lizie.

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

Ena enn bote ladan ki ou pa bizin tradir.

Arabic script speaks to anyone, I believe;

Ninport kisannla kapav apresie lekritir arab:

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

ou, ou, ou, ninport kisannla.

and then when you get the meaning,

Ek kan ou konpran sinifikasion la,

you feel connected to it.

ou santi ou plis konekte ankor.

I always make sure to write messages

Mo fer atansion ki mo ekrir bann mesaz

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

ki ena enn sinifikasion pu landrwa kot pe penn,

but messages that have a universal dimension,

me sa bann mesaz la bizin osi ena enn dimansion iniversel,

so anybody around the world can connect to it.

pou ki ninport kisannla kapav santi enn koneksion ek li.

I was born and raised in France, in Paris,

Mon finn ne ek grandi Lafrans, a Paris,

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

ek monn aprann lir ek ekrir arab selman kan mo ti ena 18 an.

Today I only write messages in Arabic.

Zordi mo ekrir bann mesaz nek an arab.

One of the reasons this is so important to me,

Enn de bann rezon kifer sa inportan pou mwa

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

se akoz sa bann reaksion ki monn gagne partou depi dan lemond.

In Rio de Janeiro, I translated this Portuguese poem

Dan Rio de Janeiro, monn tradir enn poem depi portige

from Gabriela Tôrres Barbosa,

par Gabriela Tôrres Barbosa

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

ki rann omaz a bann dimounn mizer dan favela,

and then I painted it on the rooftop.

ek monn penn sa lor bann twa lakaz.

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

Kominote lokal ti bien intrige par saki mo ti pe fer,

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

me kouma monn dir zot sinifikasion kaligrafi la,

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

zot remersie mwa akoz zot inn santi zot konekte ar poem la.

In South Africa, in Cape Town,

An Afrik Disid, dan Cape Town,

the local community of Philippi

kominote lokal de Philippi

offered me the only concrete wall of the slum.

inn donn mwa sel miray beton ki existe dan sa site la.

It was a school, and I wrote on it

Sete miray enn lekol, ek mo finn ekrir

a quote from Nelson Mandela,

enn sitasion Nelson Mandela

saying, "[in Arabic],"

ki dir [an arab],

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

"Sa paret inposib ziska ki kikenn fer li."

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

Me lerla enn boug vinn dir mwa, "Sef, kifer ou pa pe ekrir an angle?"

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

Ek monn reponn li, "Ou kestion ti pou ena kit valer si ou ti dimann mwa

why I didn't write in Zulu."

kifer mo pa pe ekrir an Zoulou."

In Paris, once, there was this event,

Dan Paris, enn fwa ti ena enn levennman,

and someone gave his wall to be painted.

ek kikenn laba inn donn mwa so miray pou fer grafiti.

And when he saw I was painting in Arabic,

Kan linn trouve ki mo pe ekrir an arab,

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

linn telman araze ki linn exize ki nou efas tou.

I was mad and disappointed.

Mo ti ankoler ek tris.

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

Me enn semenn pli tar, organizater levennman la dir mwa revini,

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

ek li dir mwa ki ena enn miray zis anfas sa boug la so lakaz.

So, this guy --

Alor sa boug la --

(Laughter)

(Riye)

like, was forced to see it every day.

aster oblize get sa toulezour.

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

Dabor monn pans pou ekrir ["an arab"],

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

ki vedir, "Bien bon pou twa", me --

(Laughter)

(Riye)

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

monn desid fer pli malin ek ekrir ["an arab"],

which means, "Open your heart."

ki vedir "Ouver to leker".

I'm really proud of my culture,

Mo bien fier de mo kiltir

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

ek mo pe sey vinn enn so bann lanbasader a traver mo travay artistik.

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

Mo espere ki mo pou kapav kas bann stereotip ki nou tou kone

with the beauty of Arabic script.

avek bote lekritir arab.

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

Zordi mo nepli ekrir tradiksion bann mesaz la lor miray.

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

Mo pa anvi gat poezi-kaligrafi la.

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

Parski se lar ek ou kapav apresie li san konn so sinifikasion,

as you can enjoy any music from other countries.

parey kouma ou kapav apresie lamizik depi lezot pei.

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

Ena dimounn ki trouv sa kouma enn rezeksion ou enn laport ferme,

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

me pou mwa, se plis kouma enn linvitasion

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

a mo langaz, mo kiltir ek mo lar.

Thank you.

Mersi.

(Applause)

(Aplodisman)