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Arts
Writes: Ahmed Abdel Hamid
Lately, Graffiti has turned out to be a debate between cultures. As for,
people wonder if it is legal or not?
The January 25 th Egyptian Revolution, immediately
gave rise to a wave of popular political and social
expression in the form of graffiti and street art, a
phenomena that was almost unknown in the country
under the old regime. Currently they draw, the
government erases but they re-draw and the cycle
does not seem to end soon.
A legal expert confirmed that Graffiti is a method of
freedom of expression of thoughts, opinion and
creativity, that is legalized by the Egyptian constitution
and the constitutions of the developed countries. Still,
such method should follow some rules and criteria.
He added that “the art of Graffiti should not conflict
with the basic state elements or include any act that
is against the law.” For example, it must not use any
words, symbols or pictures that would spread strife,
insult any of the religions, or contain libel and defamation
for anyone. This art should not also be applied to any
public or private property without permission.
So, as long as the graffiti artists could stick to these
rules, they could use their art as much they want in
order to express and spread their message and
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Legal
or Illegal?
influence the society in a positive way.
From another legal perspective, Emad Ahmed, a lawyer
stated that according to environmental laws graffiti is
illegal and is considered deformation unless there is
permission from environmental affairs. He stated that
for it to be legalized, a new law must be enacted and
enrolled to the state legislature, and then it would be
modified according to legislature modification and
viewed by the parliament.
In agreement with the previous legal expert, Ahmed
said that there should be permanent places where
graffiti artists can paint. “It should be legalized but
according to certain standards” which is if the graffiti
artist has a noticeable talent then he should be allowed
to paint. “The streets could be beautified but under
supervision”, believes Ahmed.
Surprisingly, Graffiti artists themselves say that it is
illegal. Walid Abied a graffiti artist said that “graffiti is
an art of objection”. He said that it is not legal but it is
a way of the weak to object to governments or ones in
power. He described graffiti in 3 words “draw, spray,
run”.
Abied have started drawing graffiti with its revolutionary
concept a month before the first anniversary of
Mohamed Mahmoud. He believes that this art could be
considered as an alternative media, as through it can
convey a true message to the public.
Abied passionately stated “Graffiti is like the revolution;
not legal but with justice. It is one of the kinds of
revolution, is a revolution legal? A revolution is the truth
and from the truth arise the law.”
Graffiti artists all agreed on one thing, graffiti is illegal.
Still, they defended this act and strongly believed that
it is the art of objection, it enables them to properly
speak their minds and demand their rights.
Amr Nazeer, another graffiti artist and the founder of
Coloring thru Corruption movement, has put the legal
side versus the ethical one. He said that although
graffiti is illegal, still it is ethical, and for this belief “I
will do it in a blink of an eye and take my chances.” He
added.
Nazeer has lately started his Coloring thru Corruption
campaign, where he and group of other artists decided
to look for the corrupted places in Egypt and color it with
bright colors. He wanted to make the corruption clear for
the people and to show them that these areas won’t hide
forever; people should see the reality of the situation.
Only few countries have given the art of graffiti a legal
permission, but ironically, it is used more in the countries
where it is illegal. Sherif Abdel Megied, photographer
and author of “Graffiti of the revolution” book, said so,
explaining that “If they paint with an order or under a
legal authorization, it would lose its essence which
is objection. At that time, it would not then be called
graffiti it would be called decorative art.”
Still Abdel-Megied thinks they could make certain
places where painting graffiti is legal. Some countries
already do so; they make certain squares for graffiti
paintings. This happens to have two advantages; the
first one is, it allows the governments to be aware of
what the people object to and what they exactly want,
the second is that they can use these squares as a site
seeing places for tourists.
As a result, the objections will be decreased and when
the governments work on solving all the problems, the
artists would not find anything to object about, but “as
long there is tyranny there will be objection to it.”
Abdel-Megied strongly believes that this art will not be
silenced even if there is a law against it. It played a role
in the revolution and is playing a role now, so trying to
stop it would be considered naïve, because as long as
there are problems there will be objections.
Graffiti will remain to be the art of objection, but how
will anyone be able to solve any problem if they kept
illegally objecting? In Rio de Janeiro it is admired in
festivals and in Venezuela when Chavez was sick the
people used graffiti as a way to express their gratitude
to him. So, when will the time come for graffiti to be
freely used and appreciated in Egypt like in any other
country?
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