eL Seed unveils a new wall mural in Ajman, UAE
Aerial view of the building at the junction of Badr and Al Ittihad Streets in Ajman's Al Bustan neighbourhood. Image courtesy of ALJVD Photography.
His freehand Arabic calligraphy adorns buildings all over the world and it is part of eL Seed’s artistic philosophy always to choose words fitting to the community or the place he is in. Having lived in the UAE for the past four years, eL Seed has had the words that he has inscribed onto the side of a building in the northern emirates of the UAE on his mind for some time:
eL Seed on a crane, painting a high-rise building in Ajman, UAE. Courtesy of ALJVD Photography
“On land and in the sea, our forefathers lived and survived in this environment. They were able to do so only because they recognised the need to conserve it, to take form it only what they needed to live and to preserve it for succeeding generations.”
The quote comes from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE and, given that the nation has one of the highest carbon footprints per capita in the world, it does us all good to remember his words as rampant urban development marches on and on.
Written in blue, black and white the artwork adorns a tower block at the junction of Badr and Al Ittihad Streets in Ajman's Al Bustan neighbourhood. It is eL Seed's third public artwork in the UAE.
The first was a snaking piece on an abandoned building in Sharjah in 2015 depicting the words of a 19th-century Iraqi poet and calligrapher. The second features a poem by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid titled Positive Spirit and was completed on the walls of The Green Planet at Dubai's City Walk at the end of 2016.