Art! Talaween! Graffiti! Kharabeesh!
What is art?
Art is simply a form of self-expression; the ultimate art is to define one’s presence. Art is driven by the need to live, exist, learn, feel, grow, thrive, hate and love.
Fact: people have been writing on walls all throughout history. This may come as a surprise to some, but graffiti existed even before language did; Cavemen were the first artists to paint on walls. Ancient Romans tagged the sides of buildings in the villages and cities they conquered. As it happens to be, this form of tagging was and still is called graffiti.
Fast-forward to our day and age and it can be noted that graffiti branched into a variety of different classifications. Personally, I’m only concerned with the modern offspring of ‘traditional’ graffiti specifically its artistic aspect.
Having no choice but to be constantly bombarded with the greatest eyesore in the history of the universe “لتشييك مزارعكم” I promised my self to mix it up a bit and spray something decent for once around Amman. I’m only kidding of course! My true motivation stems from being the environmentally concerned type of person I am. With that being said, I felt the need to communicate something real and relevant. Something that directly affects each and everyone of us living in Jordan.
Although many may not know this officially this year has been the driest on record since 1992. Today both short and long-range forecasts do not look promising. Knowing this I re-appropriated one of Banksy’s graffiti’s to convey the progressively decreasing amounts of rain Jordan is receiving. For those of you who don’t know Banksy, he is considered to be the most compelling graffiti artist of our time.
And so a couple of weeks ago I whipped up some stencils and with the help of my close friends we managed to spray a decent amount around west Amman, mainly in Abdoun. If anything this image is meant to be raw, challenging and thought provoking in hopes of stimulating interest and dialogue on this vital subject matter.
As I have initially hoped there was a substantial public reaction to this graffiti, however the holistic outcome has exceeded any and all expectations. It is quite unfortunate the majority of people have failed to grasp the true meaning behind this graffiti along with all the connotations involved. Out of the many false and might I add crazy interpretations I have come across, the most concerning of all is that of the Jordanian authorities. Furthermore the actions undertook to ‘resolve’ this matter is unsettling. Sitting here writing this blog post, I am as shocked as I have been the first time I have learned that this graffiti has been officially interpreted to symbol for a devil worshiping sect!
It boggles me how such a dramatic and outrageous interpretation could have been made. This could not be further from the truth! How could one jump to such a drastic conclusion without considering the intended features of the image first?
The following pictures are the authorities extreme, unnecessary and somewhat delusional response to the graffiti.
Just to point it out the abbreviations A.M.K stand for Allah - Mohammad - Kareem
How can anyone take a girl holding an umbrella asking "where is the rain?" to be anything other than what it is; a girl asking why people of the world are destroying our planets’ natural environment to the extent that it is changing our climate.
I can’t help but wonder just how underdeveloped we really are. Are we living in times of witchery to be condemned so brutally? Couldn’t this situation be handled in a more decent and civilized manner? I do acknowledge the fact that graffiti is a form of vandalism. In fact, if you think about it authorities also responded with graffiti, horrible graffiti might I add. The official actions taken just go to show how precious funds, energy and time are being wasted so blatantly. We preach innovation and creativity but the reality of the situation stands before you.
Feel free to email me at: banksyimnot@gmail.com
Feel free to email me at: banksyimnot@gmail.com
Thank you for reading,
Cheers,
P.S This has not discouraged me
P.S This has not discouraged me
awesome blog
ReplyDeletecome visit soon
This was a great attempt at some interesting graffiti and ive it around town myself. I've been hoping that a culture of street art would emerge in Amman as it desperately needs it, and I suppose, in one way or another, I've been waiting for someone to come out and start doing it.
ReplyDeleteI think it was rather unrealistic that you assumed people will get what you meant by the stencil when you consider that this form of art is very new to the country, besides you , I can only think of two other artists that are doing stenciling at the moment.
ReplyDeleteYou should have launched this blog the same time you started your stencil project , I for one thought it was just an imitation of Bankys work and I know a thing or two about street art.
It is good that it did not discourage you , I hope you continue doing what you are doing but you have to take the local contest into consideration , most of the population have never been exposed to this form of art, so whatever your next stencil is, I hope you compliment it with a clear message on your blog.
Good luck and good job.
I praise your initiative! I for one actually liked the design even though my friends were really freaked out about the whole thing. Rest assured, I tried my best to convince them that it really wasn't anything to worry about. Like Nasser said, it is a shame that the locals dont understand art, that's something I had to learn the hard way especially after Jo Bedu's 3adas Soub design. The problem is with the people, not art.
ReplyDeletedallak ursom ma truddish,
ReplyDeleteNext time you should write the rain prayer. This way maybe they will get it.
ReplyDeleteKeep stenciling ...
Hello graffiti artist,
ReplyDeleteI did understand the concept behind the stencil of the girl, and as a photographer and artist i salut you for your efforts.
Sadly our society reacted in a negative way.. i hope that one day we will be wise enough to really appreciate the beauty of Art.
Expression has no limits..
We all start somewhere.. never give up
Peace
:)
Keep up the good work brotha....
ReplyDeleteDear Graffiti-ier
ReplyDeleteI for one, do not understand art that much, but i loved the effort and the stencil since it is expressive of the drought we have.
It saddens me that people do not appreciate art (however it may look like) but instead decided to interpret it into anti- God anti-Islam as always! I say keep up the work around Amman, and id love to see more stencils around the city
You should not be discouraged at all .. Kudos
Hello Artist,
ReplyDeleteI did get the message easily. Graffiti has indeed become an art. Ive seen it beautifying the walls of Budapest. Keep the good work of drawing "Artistic Graffiti".
Salam,
ReplyDeleteI admire your initiative and guts. I'm going to touch on another aspect of this work (i.e. not the message itself, but the way it was conveyed). Before you criticise your anti-taggers as "underdeveloped", take a second to think about how you yourself may hold that quality, because you simply copy-pasted a Western artist's work. An artist should take his environment into consideration, sketch, discuss, research, before making a statement. Even Spontaneity has years of critical thinking behind it...
يعني عن جد نفسي أفهم ليش اخترت تقلد "بانكسي"...إذا اللي انتقدوك رجعيين إنت مع الأسف فيك شوية من الرجعية لإنه عم بتقلد الغرب مع شبلونة كمان...شبلونة!
أنا نيتي مش الإهانة...أنا بسأل نفسي عين السؤال...كيف ممكن أحسن وسيلة التعبير؟