Unprecedented Tunisian Mural Goes Up in Kairouan

At the end of last year, Kairouan, an inland city situated in the center of the country, became home to a unique artistic work: A monumental 40m × 7m mural, perhaps the largest in the modern history of the country.

Positioned just beyond the wall of the old city of Kairouan, a center for cultural and artistic innovation since the first Islamic califate in the 7th century, the painting has added radically new touch to a very ancient city.

A team of 7 passionate young people made it happen. The project was organized by a cultural group called El Khaldounia, based in Tunis. Khmili Meher, Najiba Aben, Mahdi Khmili, Sheima Ouakajja and Chokri Ayari pitched the idea to well-known street artist El Seed, asking him to come back to his native country to direct their efforts in creating the mural.

The team used more than 200 spray paint cans brought from Spain to create the piece, and it took the team nearly a week to bring it to completion. Local governmental bodies and administrative entities, along with various community leaders and the local people of Kairouan worked cooperatively to realize the idea.

El Seed sees the project as part of a process of cultural transformation in Tunisia and stated that it was the first of its kind in Tunisia, in both scale and style.

“We have made an unprecedented artistic achievement that could be a stepping stone to a cultural revolution in Tunisia,” said El Seed.

Rooted within the philosophy of participatory democracy, the mounting of the mural offered a creative outlet for local residents and provided a window into what could possibly be in the future of Tunisia as a cultural and artistic hotspot.

El Seed is a young artist with Tunisian origins. He was born in France, moved to New York in 2006, and then settled in Montreal. He discovered street art at an early age, and was also involved with hip hop and breakdancing culture.

In 2004, he discovered Arabic calligraphy, the ancient art of stylistically presenting characters in the Arab script, and studied the work of several Arab calligraphists such as the Iraqi Hassan Massoudy.

El Seed saw a link between the very old technique and the modern practice of graffiti and set about trying to reconcile the two supposedly clashing cultures. In their union, he says, he finds a tangible expression of his search for identity.

“Young Arab graffiti artists should join efforts to develop an Arab graffiti. We should express ourselves in our mother-tongue,” he stated.

After spending long years abroad, El Seed decided to pay a short visit to his country of origin Tunisia. He was determined to pay a tribute to the Tunisian Revolution by offering this unprecedented mural to Kairouan.