Art of Revolution

Graffiti from Tehrir Square, Cairo, Egypt

By Hunaid Hussain

December 31^st, 2014

Egypt is no alien to graffiti and murals, pyramids, temples and tombs all have ancient graffiti and murals to mark the life of the kings and queens and other historical happenings of that time.

In keeping up with the ancient traditions, modern day Egyptians have used the graffiti or street art to document the spring revolution. Some of these also depict the martyrs from the revolution. These are mostly political and are created either to mock the Mubarak Regime or in support of the islamic state.

Tehrir Square and Cairo are the heart of this revolution, even today you can see some tents pitched in the centre.

These graffitis are rapidly being created and destroyed. Some conservative parties think of these as vandalism and want them to be removed and banned. However, this reflects the love of the people towards Egypt and is also a documentary from the revolution, which is ongoing.

Artist like Ammar Abu Bakr , Alaa Awad and El Zeft are few of the prominent graffiti artists who have expressed their sentiments and documented the revolution. Some of these street art is inspired by Banksy while others have used more traditional Arabic Calligraphy and verses from Quran to mock the islamists and the Mubarak regime.

The graffiti represent the creativity of people to develop new tools for protest and dialogue that are stronger and more permanent than the tyranny of their rulers. The artists have transformed the city’s walls into a political rally that will never end as long as noisy Cairo remains.