When most people think of Egypt, images of barren deserts, towering pyramids, and ancient Pharaohs are the usual. However, almost 4 years ago a new face of Egypt was shown to the world, a face of the people. On January 25th, 2011 the Egyptian populace joined together in an attempt to overthrow Authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak by overtaking Tahrir Square in protest. The documentary The Square ,by director Jehane Noujaim, follows Khalid Abdalla, Ahmed Hassan, Ramy Essam, Magdy Ashour, and many other Egyptians Revolutionaries as they strive for a better tomorrow. With each and every step they take there is both a beauty to their pride and hope, but a beast to the danger that lurks behind the dangerous Regime and their Military force. …show more content…
Throughout the film, in the use of fillers, we see someone painting graffiti on a wall showing whatever is happening within that portion of the revolution. This use of imagery doesn’t just emphasize what's going during that period of time, in order help the viewer better understand the point of view of the revolutionary, it also helps in bringing about a beauty side of the revolution. It is almost far fetched that in this turmoil that a some painting on a wall would have that much of an impact on any person, but the images almost speak as effectively as the people. As Khalid puts it, “The battle isn’t one of sticks and stones. The battle is in the images...and the stories…”. Khalids explanation of the Revolution reveals that images speak louder than words in some cases, however no imagery could speak stronger than that of the people united. From the revolutionaries, dancing, chanting, and singing in the Tahrir Square to people in tears of joy when President Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011. The revolutionaries in the square bring about the imagery of not just a community but one of new found friends and even family united under a single
Any study on Modern Egyptian history naturally begins with Nasser, Egypt’s first President after the Free Officers revolution in 1952. Nasser was the foremost proponent of pan-Arabism, an ideology that called for close ties between the Arab states, presumably under the leadership of Egypt, one of the most powerful states in the Middle East at the time. Compared to other states in the Arab World, Nasser’s Egypt was stable, militarily powerful, and independent of foreign influence. From this position of re...
Building owners give permission to draw a graffiti art on walls because, it makes buildings meaningful, attractive and colorful such as the “Five Pointz” and “Top to Bottom” buildings. From my personal experience, during in our trip “Top to Bottom”, I observed that the building was covered by different type of colorful paintings, pictures and, writings. That pictures inspired and amazed me. Every picture has a different meaning and artist wants to show people by his graffiti art. Also, People use the building wall to raise their voice against of any unlawful work and show their ideas. For example, in 1971, Bangladesh fought with Pakistan to get the freedom. Bangladeshi graffiti artist wrote the slogan on the building wall to inspire people to fight with Pakistani army. Also, they wrote what they wanted from Pakistani government and it was the easiest to express people’s voice against of Pakistani government. So, I think graffiti art should belong the building
Egypt has one of the longest histories of any nation in the world. Written history of Egypt dates back to about 5,000 years, the commencement of civilization. While there is divergence in relation to Early Egyptian times, it is said that Egypt came to be around 3200 B.C., during the reign of a king by the name of Menes and unified the northern and southern cities of Egypt into one government. In 1675 B.C., Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos, people from the east, bringing along the very first of chariots and horses ever to come across Egyptian soil. Approximately 175 years later in 1500 B.C., the Egyptians had gotten rid of the Hyksos and driven them out. In 1375 B.C., Amenhotep IV had become the king of Egypt. During his reign he eliminated the worship of Egyptian gods and initiated the idea of only worshipping one god. But after his death, his ideas were retired and old ways were reestablished. Egyptian supremacy then started to decline around 1000 B.C. Between 1000 B.C. and 332 B.C., Egypt was ruled by many such as the Libyans, Assyrians, Ethiopians, and Persians. In 640, Muslims conquered Egypt and founded the city of Cairo in 969 and deemed it as the capital of Egypt. For many centuries Egypt was ruled by Muslim caliphs. A prominent ruler of this period was Saladin, who battled the Christian Crusaders at the conclusion of the twelfth century. In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt but was then forced to withdraw in 1801 Turkish and British armed forces. In 1805 Mohamed Ali began ruling Egypt till 1848 and great changed the country in terms of modernization and its military. During Mohamed’s conquest, he borrowed a lot of money from the French and British, which later resulted in Egypt’s coloniza...
Ridel, B, 'The real losers in Egypt's uprising', The Daily Best Online, 13 February 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011< http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-13/al-qaeda-absent-in-hosni-mubaraks-fall-and-egyptian-revolution/>
The Egyptian January 2011 revolution initially created hopes that a genuine process of Egyptian democratization would take off under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious, political and social movement. The June 2012 presidential elections, brought the group’s candidate, Mohamed Morsi, in office. While in power the Muslim Brotherhood kept and enforced many laws and articles from the old regime to maintain control of the country. The continuation of torture and murder behind bars under the Muslim Brotherhood disqualifies it as a rebellion as Camus clarifies, “to exist, man must rebel, but rebellion must respect the limit it discovers in itself”( Camus 22). On June 26, 2013, El Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, published a report in which it described torture during the first year of Brotherhood rule as “widespread and systematic.” “ The report documented 359 cases of torture and 217 cases of torture-related deaths over the period from June 30, 2012, to May 31, 2013” (Selim 193). The transgression in Muslim Brotherhood regime through the use of violence to punish it opponents oversteps the boundaries of a rebel. The main complaint of the Egyptians citizens was that the Muslim Brotherhood failed to live to its promise to get rid of authoritarianism and put Egypt on a path toward democracy. Under
"Arab Uprisings: 10 Key Moments." BBC News. BBC, 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
The identity of a graffiti artist is hardly ever known unless they want to tag their art with their name or a nickname. Graffiti writers as a subculture are trying to express their political views through civil disobedience by painting pictures that speak out against the government. This subculture developed because they were tired of being oppressed by the government. Graffiti is one of the most enduring acts of protest. It is an important tool for the resistance movement as a way to publicize their protest. It is a visible and powerful form of protest that is going to promote change in the social justice by allowing oppressed groups of people express their viewpoints without being penalized by the
Graffiti art was used by gangs as a way to mark their territories. They were also used to warn away any police and of course any other gangs to enter that area. Lastly these gang graffiti signs were used to either memorial a fallen gang member or to show that they are in the business of selling drugs. “Deanna Rodriguez, head of the Brooklyn district attorney's gang unit said ‘gangs have long utilized graffiti as a coded means of communication, but to the untrained eye, it looks like mere vandalism.’” (Belenkaya, Veronika. "Gangs Use Graffiti as a Warning." NY Daily News. Daily News, 12 Feb. 2008. Web. 02 May 2014.) What she is trying to say is that to some people, graffiti is just vandalism on a wall, no harm done but if you knew how to read the graffiti it would be different. A...
In the Arab world in late 2010, starting in Tunisia and flowering in Egypt, a movement of people frustrated by their governments, corrupt leaders and a lack of jobs suddenly felt safe to take to the streets. The Arab Spring began when a young Tunisian man set himself on fire to protest government corruption and poor economic conditions. This action inspired a wave of protests across Tunisia, which ultimately resulted in the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power.
In the article “Revolution in a Can” by Blake Gopnik, he states, “The most elaborate images from Egypt, Libya, and Haiti today look very much like the 1980s paint jobs on New York subway cars and warehouse facades, and yet their point is not to function as art but to work as carriers of content and opinion” (114). In other words, graffiti is used to show how people truly feel inside. This is important because in addition to being considered art, it also serves the function of expressing oneself if that freedom does not exist. As a matter of fact pieces like this can be found all over the world. They are located on the Palestinian West Bank, on a wall on Benghazi in Libya, and in Tahrir Square in Egypt. A piece of graffiti art that epitomizes this is Begging for Change by graffiti artist Meek. The work engaged the public since it was done right near a train station. It features a homeless man holding a sign that reads, “Keep your coins, I want change”. The piece radiates a very powerful message stating how money can’t solve
Art is a form of self-expression, graffiti artist like to show their feelings through drawing on public spaces so that maybe someone who sees it will understand the message. Art is supposed to invoke emotion in both the artist and the viewer. If you feel happy, sad, empowerment, even anger or disgust at least you felt something. That is all any artist can hope for is that after seeing their work you are now changed and view the world a little
By focusing on the Graffiti that is vulgar and gang related they are saving the city thousands of dollars and time while still keeping what is considered street art. The mayor believes that tags will become even more unlikely because they are taken down so fast due to the focused effort of the clean up teams. Getting rid of street art is censoring people’s opinions and their way to voice In the 1960s displaying war was common for artists. Many artists during this time were against the Vietnam war and displayed that in their artwork. Artists such as Ronald Haeberle, Peter Saul, and Carl Andre raised awareness against the war through their art and in doing so produced a call to action.
...n 1163 B.C., Egypt entered a period of slow decline (Scarre 1997:116). Pharaohs became less powerful, and their prestige dwindled. Hungry soldiers were terrorizing the community, while tomb robbers were raiding the pyramids for resources that were very much needed. They had buried their pharaohs with food, goods and jewelry, all of which were needed to keep the civilization in tact. They had built too many pyramids, and there were setbacks in Asia which corrupted trade. People did not understand why the pharaohs could not fix the problems that were going on. They viewed them as gods and lost trust and faith. Egypt fell apart as these things culminated with loss of belief in the pharaohs.
People around the world have different ways to express their feelings through. It could be done legally or illegaly. One way in which it could be done is through art like graffiti. Graffiti is a form of art where people express their feelings by spraying colors on street walls. It is actually a very interesting kind of art, as it is not easy to draw with sprays and to express yourself using some kind of symbols on walls that represent something deep inside you. Since the beginning of time, people have been debating on whether graffiti is legal or not. If you think about it for a second, you will find each and every reason for graffiti to be legal, but people till now tend to accuse it as a form of crime. Since when is art a crime? Since when is expressing your feelings in a peaceful way is a crime? Graffiti could not just be used on walls of other people’s property, it as well could be done on portraits and sold and actually in Brazil many people travel there to see the graffiti portraits in the galleries. Graffiti grabs people attention in a way and raises people’s awareness of something through drawing. Isn’t it just beautiful to draw something that grabs people attention and raises their awareness towards something and then credit you for doing so? Therefore, graffiti is passionate beautiful kind of art that I do not think it should be seen as a crime, instead as an astonishing form of art.
Instead of just mere protesting, people would try and take up more of a physical approach to the message they were trying to convey. At the beginning of the era, graffiti was a rebellious phase when it came to the younger generation backed by the punk-pop scene. It was more of a socialising hobby rather than a means to express a view or opinion, but then there were certain individuals who used it as an artistic outlet. Banksy is the most notorious for expressing his political opinion with out actually saying a political party in specific. According to James Basset ,“Banksy is an avowedly anonymous graffiti artist who has managed to translate underground credibility into massive popular appeal.” (James Brassett 2009). He is the type of artist that shames but never names. There have been many occasion when artists that have tried to mimic what Banksy does but they are never quite as successful as he is at accomplishing it. In Banksy’s very own words he states that “Just doing a tag is about retribution. If you don't own a train company then you go and paint on one instead.” (Banksy