Lily Novak
Arab
Spring
R.
Williams
4/5/13
Thinking outside the Frame
The Arab spring revolution has ignited a creative fire
within the art world of the Middle East. With this proliferation of creativity came
crafty artists who have imagined new ways to use art—as an outlet of expression
and as a weapon to fight for their unfinished revolution. This protest art has
taken on many forms, including street art, graffiti, watercolors, paintings,
and riot photography, and can be found sprawling over almost everything in the
Arab World. [Nashashibi] Some of the art is not thought out and is hastily done,
most likely by the common Arab having less concern with aesthetics and more
emphasis on the message. However, a good portion of protest art is premeditated
and is quite impressive. These installments can take weeks, even months, to
finish and are admired by all. With that being said, there are quite a few artists
who have taken the spotlight in the Arab Spring revolution and have made
powerful statements with their talent.
An artist that has made a profound impact in the Arab Spring
as well as the contemporary art community is a young man named Mohamad Fahmy, who goes by the pseudonym Ganzeer.
[Biel] As a multidisciplinary designer and artist from Cairo, Ganzeer’s work is
part of a wave of political and revolutionary graffiti in the Arab Revolution.
His artistic activism along with his critical eye of the Egyptian government
has hurtled him into the forefront of an artistic movement and into the hearts
of the citizens. However, this combination of audacity and fame has been accompanied
by unwanted attention from the Egyptian authorities resulting in an arrest on
May 26th, 2011. [Biel] The sticker that lead to his arrest is titled
“Mask of freedom” and was quite the controversy. The bright colors and boldness
of the design catch the eye, while the provocative nature of the context draws
you in and keeps you entertained. In the picture below, the original sticker is
on the left, and the translated version is on the right.
In an interview days before his arrest, Ganzeer commented on
his position and role in this whole artistic insurgence. “People forget that the streets
belong to the people. They think that they're some kind of official
government-controlled entity. I think it's important to remind people that
they’re not.” [Biel] Ganzeer does just that in one of his more famous
installments that explicitly criticizes the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, which has
ruled Egypt since the resignation of former president Housni Mubarak. This controversial mural is called
“Tank vs. Bread-Biker”, and can be found under a bridge in downtown Cairo. This
installment features a young boy on a bicycle balancing bread on his head,
facing a life size tank that’s operated by a soldier. The bread delivery boy represents
a timeless Egyptian symbol of humdrum life. [Biel] This work is a powerful and
clever gesture of revolution, much like the rest of Ganzeer’s art.
Another artist that emerged from
the Arab spring was photographer Rémi Ochlik, who was an award
winning French Photo-journalist. Remi was killed tragically in Syria when a
rocket hit the house where he was seeking refuge. [Khalifa]. Although he has
passed, his photographs will remain some of the most raw and profound art that captured
the spirit of the Arab Spring. His most inspiring imagery was his photo series
called “Revolutions” which was the collection he was working on at the time of
his death. The collection features photographs shot at the epicenter of the
action, exemplifying the magnanimity of violence to the viewer. Remi traveled
to four of the countries experiencing the Arab spring including Tahrir Square
in Egypt, and the battle for Tripoli in Libya. [Haggag] His investment and
dedication to capturing the moment landed him in very questionable situations,
but resulted in outstanding, inspirational, and emotional photographs. They not
only depicted stories of the every day Arab fighting for their freedom, but
portrayed the corrupt actions of the government and the brutal measures they
would carry out. Remi’s photography is unbiased, courageous, striking, and
simply a true work of art.
A third artist
that has earned the attention from the Arab art world is a Lebanese-Egyptian
artist, designer and art historian, Bahia Shehab. Like the other artists of the
Arab spring, Bahia’s mission is to express the frustration and enthusiasm of
the citizens through non-traditional mediums of art. However, what sets Bahia’s
art apart from the rest is her incorporation of traditional Islamic elements
into a contemporary and relevant twist. She studies ancient Arabic script and
applies it to modern-day issues, such as the Arab uprisings, and creates truly
inspiring and unique art. [Haggag] An example of this is with her most famous
piece of work titled “A thousand times NO”. It
takes the form of a plexi glass curtain, around 2.5 m x 6 m, and is an 1,016
page book documenting the research she collected about the letterform called “Lam-alif”, which means NO in
Arabic. [Shehab] The book takes the Lam-alif and repeats it a thousand
different times to illustrate the Arabic expression “No, and a
thousand times
no!”. By reinforcing the Lam-alif throughout the entirety of the artwork, Bahia
is rejecting the submission and repression that often plagues the Islamic and
Arab cultures. “When you want to deny all of the
stereotypes that are imposed on you and that try to define your role in the
world. When you want to reject almost every aspect of your reality. When you
want to decline every political reality you live under. When you want to
dismiss all of the options available to you. When you want to negate all the
accusations that go hand in hand with your identity. When you want to refuse to
be an imitator or follower of the West, yet you also refuse the regressive
interpretation of your heritage. ‘A thousand Nos’ are not enough." [Shehab]
“A
thousand times NO” is a tribute to the prosperity, diversity, and freedom of
expression in Middle Eastern art.
Bahia’s
work received a lot of publicity, but her variety of application of the art is
what landed her the recognition she deserves. In order to get her message out
to a wide audience, Bahia constructed stencils of the various Lam-alif’s and
started to spray them onto the streets of Cairo. She was applying them in areas
that would not only experience frequent foot traffic, but to specific places
where the stencil would conceptually connect to the environment.
In the above picture are a variety
of Bahia’s stencils, reinforcing her incentive for expression and the
confidence to say
no to dictators, no to military rule and no to violence. These stencils have
engaged the community and connected to the citizens on a personal level. The
simplicity of the messages and designs make her art inviting, and are brief
enough for all walks of life to understand and admire. “I think the thousand
times No is special because it launched my career as a serious artist. They are
my children I can’t choose. Cairo is a city that needs more color and whoever
adds more color to the city is welcome to play.”[Shehab]
The protest art
that has been created by these artists as well as other everyday Arabs has made
quite the impression on the Arab art world. It has
helped unsettle the basic facts of political life during the Arab Spring and is
disruptive in the truest sense. It challenges the Arab world to contemplate the
art and politics upon which they support. “The Arab Spring artists have shown us what it
means to make art that isn't just outside the box, but turns the box upside
down.” [Feldman]
Works Cited:
1). Biel, Erin. "Revolution Graffiti:
Reclaiming Public Space, Reclaiming Freedom in the New Egypt." The Yale Globalist. N.p., 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
2). Feldman, Noah. "Taking It to the
Street." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 5
Oct. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
3). Khalifa, Karim Ben. "Remembering Arab
Spring Photographer Rémi Ochlik." PRI. Marco Werman, 1
Feb. 2013. Web.
4). Shehab, Bahia. "A Thousand times
NO." Ted Talks. TED: Ideas worth Spreading.
Web. June 2012.
5). Haggag, Lamis A.
"Re-territorialization: Escaping the Frame." UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY (2013): 31-36. Web.
6). Nashashibi, Salwa Mikdadi, 1948-, National Museum of Women in the
Arts (U.S.) and International Council for Women in
the Arts Forces of change : artists of
the Arab world. International Council for Women in the Arts ;
Washington, D.C. : National Museum of Women in the Arts, Lafayette, Calif,
1994.
