Alumni and Students Join eL Seed to Mark the Streets of Doha VCUQatar’s alumni and students worked with renowned Calligraffiti artist eL Seed on two projects. French-Tunisian graffiti artist eL Seed and his team, which included VCUQatar alumni Ahood Al Dafa, Assil Diab, Dima Masoud and Rana Selo, painted four underground tunnels on Salwa Road early this year, embellishing 52 large-scale murals with artistic graffiti themes inspired by anecdotes from Qatari culture and markers of Qatari life. The project was managed by the Public Art team at Qatar Museums Authority, in partnership with the Public Works Authority Ashghal.
01 Detail of large-scale mural 02 Volunteer working from hydraulic lift in a Salwa Road tunnel
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Speaking about her experience working on such a major public art project, Ahood Al Dafa said: “I thank QMA for giving me this great opportunity to work for the past four months with eL Seed on this unique project for my own country. The chance to work with a global, well-known artist has improved my creative capacities, from dealing with large-scale paintings in Arabic calligraphy to complementing and mixing colors. We, as a team of volunteers, were very involved in the project by virtue of an artist who was open to sharing and discussing his ideas. I am honored to have met and worked with an artist who represents Arabic culture in such a contemporary way.” Students and alumni had another opportunity to work with eL Seed on a collaboration initiated by The Gate Mall through VCUQatar’s Center for Research, Design and Entrepreneurship. The project was presented to the Graphic Design Department who then introduced it as an assignment within Professors Leland Hill and Basma Hamdy’s typography class. The department continued receiving submissions not just from students in the typography and painting and printmaking classes, but from other VCUQatar students and alumni as well. Final submissions were assessed by Graphic Design Department Chair Muneera Spence, Qatari artist Fatima Al Shebani and Hamdy. eL Seed chose the final images that were rendered at The Gate Mall. VCUQatar students and alumni whose submissions were selected included: Aisha Al Thani, AlMaha Al-Kawari, Filza Khan, Hala Hamad, Lolwa Al-Mohannadi, Maeda Al-Haidar, Mona Al Sulaiti, Muneera Al Khulaifi, Noof Al Mohannadi, Aisha Rasheed, Alanoud Al-Sowaidi, Dania Jalees, Ghada Al-Suwaidi, Noof Al Binali, Noor Al-Thani, Noora Melhim, Salma Hamouda, Wanoun Yaqoob and Haneen Al-Sharif. As part of the project, eLSeed also ran a workshop for students at VCUQatar where he introduced them to painting large surfaces and strategies to tackle huge walls.
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