Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah’s innovative contemporary visual arts hub, is bringing the striking calligraffiti of acclaimed French-Tunisian street artist eL Seed to the city of Sharjah in a compelling live outdoor street art initiative, Jedariya.
The project 'Jedariya', conceived by Maraya Art Centre in aid of beautifying Sharjah’s streets in order to attract more tourists to the Emirates while involving Sharjah’s diverse youth population with the arts, consists of an elaborate painted calligraffiti mural on the walls of the Sharjah Bank Street building by eL Seed.
eL Seed is famous for his unique style of calligraphy - fusing elements of both the graffiti and Arabic calligraphic traditions - which uses complex design to call not only on the words and their meaning, but also on their movement and flow, luring the viewer into an alternate frame of mind. Exhibitions and public wall displays of his extraordinary work can be seen in many locations and landmarks all over Europe, the USA, and the Middle East. The artist found inspiration for the Sharjah art piece in a beautiful poem by acclaimed Iraqi poet Ahmed Bu Snida, a well known and beloved poem in Sharjah.
Maraya Art Centre Manager Giuseppe Moscatello, remarked "Street art adds a new dimension to the urban landscape, transforming walls into canvasses that celebrate the culture of the people who inhabit the space. It is a wonderful way to not only add beauty to the everyday but to create a dialogue between the man on the street and the world of art and we look forward to engaging the community and especially the youth in this ongoing project."
eL Seed has been busy painting the Sharjah Bank Street wall from first light till sundown. To face the vertical challenge of the enormous facade, he is secured in a harness and rappels and abseils around the building – spray-painting, stencilling and creating the mammoth masterpiece in plain public sight. He has also been instrumental in drawing a growing interest from the local youth by live tweeting and posting photos taken from his birds-eye-view perspective.
"We are proud of the immense artistic talent that can be found in Sharjah and remain committed to supporting the arts every possible way. By bringing world class art projects into our beautiful Emirate’s public areas we want to not only foster an appreciation of the arts among all, but also attract artists and art lovers from Sharjah, the UAE, and all over the world as well as encourage and inspire young artists to develop their talents and aspire to greatness." said HE Marwan Al Sarkal.
Maraya Art Centre intends for all projects led under this initiative to have a community incentive, which sometimes can be as simple as merely getting young people involved in the arts, while at other times may require them to actively participate in aid of raising awareness for an important cause, in addition to creating beautiful landmarks in Sharjah.