Temoula land of my ancestors. There is no one like you
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Title
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Temoula land of my ancestors. There is no one like you
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Description
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The sub-genre of street art known as “Calligraffiti” was first conceptualized for a New York art exhibit in 1984. Wild Style graffiti artist known for their graffiti art, which found its canvas in the subways and on the back alleys of through out the five boroughs of New York (Deitch: 1). One of the current most famous Calligraffiti artists is the French-Tunisian street artist, eL Seed. Born and raised in Paris, France, eL Seed became deeply immersed in the pop-culture of modern day France. With age, he became increasingly interested in his Tunisian heritage and quickly learned to write Arabic Calligraphy as he learned to master the Arabic language of his ancestors (Deitch: 2). eL Seed draws on his Tunisian ancestry as well as his French upbringing to inspire works of art that beautifully fuse modern popular culture with the stylistic Arabic calligraphy found in the Qur’an.
In 2013, eL Seed began his project, Lost Walls as an attempt to rediscover his heritage while traveling through Tunisia transforming “lost walls” into beautiful works of Calligraffiti art. Through out his Lost Walls project eL Seed demonstrates the beauty of urban graffiti by placing it in a rural setting. His journey took him back to Temoula, a place where most of his family still lives, a place which eL Seed had not visited in many years (eL Seed: 142). This particular piece uses the now empty home of eL Seed’s later grandparent’s (eL Seed: 143). The graffiti piece draws inspiration from a poem written by one of eL Seed’s family members in homage to their land. eL Seed painted the first two verses of the poem on the façade of his grandparent’s house. It reads “Temoula, land of my Ancestors. There is no one like you,” (eL Seed: 146). In this work of art, eL Seed fuses the pop-culture graffiti style of Paris with the age-old beauty of Arabic calligraphy as well as the rural Tunisian culture of his ancestors. Through out his Lost Walls project eL Seed demonstrates the beauty of urban graffiti by placing it in a rural setting.
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Creator
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eL Seed
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Source
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The "Lost Walls" Project
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Publisher
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eL Seed Art
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Date
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2013
