The Markings on the Wall

There is no doubt the January 25 Revolution helped take graffiti to a new level — and a year later, Mad Graffiti Week is here to remind us of the street art’s glory. Before January 25, the only common markings on the wall used to read of the love exchanged between ‘Mimi and Soso’ or to claim that ‘Hamada was here.’ Over the past 12 months several local street artists began mastering their craft, with the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and several other governorates taken over by meaningful pieces of art telling the story of the people. With only a few days left until the anniversary of the revolution, street artists have come together to create Mad Graffiti Week which will run from January 13 to January 25. The initiative is meant to urge people to join in the protests planned for January 25, and to remind them of the original demands of the revolution and why it is important to continue to fight for them. Take it to the streets What sets this street art movement apart from others is that it encourages all people to participate by spray-painting the walls themselves — artist or not. On their Facebook page, Mad Graffiti Week posts designs for stencils, thin sheets of material with letters or images cut from it, which anyone can print out and spray paint over to create the final product. Egypt’s Graffiti Week has resounded all over the world, with countries such as Poland and Germany’s Berlin — a city famous for being one of the originators of the street art movement — starting to create their own pieces of graffiti art inspired by the Egyptian people. Right here in Egypt, several young people have already snuck out in the middle of the night with their faces covered, their stencils and spray paint cans in hand to mark the streets of Cairo, Abbasiya, Banha, Al-Matariya, Alexandria, and Luxor, to name a few.