74 STREET ART
You see what’s going on in the world and try to make sure that your work has an impact, that it can create social change and can change the mind of one person or a community at large. This is, I think, the point of what I’m doing.
How do you research the idea? Because my work is based on writing messages using Arabic calligraphy, I spent almost three months reading books and researching online about art in the Coptic community (largest ethno-religious minority in Egypt). Then I found an amazing quote by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria – a Coptic Bishop from the 3rd century, who said “Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first”. After a few months, I went back to Manshiyat Nasr to meet again with father Samaan to tell him what I wanted to write. At the same time I also started to work on the logistic: who will ship the paint from France, who will be part of my team, securing the lift and so on. I think everybody thought I was crazy. Even my team thought that it was crazy. When I look at it, I think that it was a bit crazy, but it was honestly the most amazing artistic experience that I’ve ever had in my life. What kind of local people do you contact to make it happen? You just reach the place and try to find someone local that can help. I think that’s the key. Thank God that in every place I’ve been to, I found the right person that opened the door for me. I'm grateful for that. How many drafts do you create per project? Actually, there was only one draft on this project. I made the sketch of the final piece just one week before we started in February. In the actual moment of painting a big project, how many people participate on average and how do you engage/motivate them? Most of the people in my team are friends from my childhood, so asking them to come with me to such a project is fun for them. Normally. For this project, however, there were many things that were not that