Mission accomplished.
One of my goals during my year of residency in Tashkeel was to paint a mural in the streets of Dubai.
In any other country, everything probably would have been easier but here graffiti or street art or whatever is heavily punished, actually I think this is the first and only mural that exists in the UAE (someone correct me if I’m wrong).
The process has not been easy. Since consequences of being busted painting here are no joke (and you need more than 10 minutes to paint this, set up a cherry picker, etc) you need a permission.
So after locating the spot by Jumeirah Beach Road (Anna!) we had to talk with the owner of the building, who luckily was open for the project since the first moment. Then with his ok, the Tashkeel crew were struggling with Dubai authorities day by day until we finally got their OK a few months later.
Keeping in mind that sedentary lifestyle is a big issue in this city, as well as the crazy unsustainability that involves most of its massive projects, I wanted this artwork, a local guy riding a bicicamel instead of a polluting car, while eating some healthy stuff, to be a wake up call for simplicity and sustainability to all the people living here (applicable to hundreds of other countries). I’m not really expecting any change with this, but that’s the message.
After spending the whole night painting this, I passed by the next day to take some photos and to speak with the neighbors about it (mostly shops and cafeterias). They look excited about it, even though they were kind of reluctant when they saw me painting the first lines. Late night visitors after closing their stores were also rewarded for their support with a quick lift in the cherry picker or with a few shots of spray on his guetto car to hide some scratches.
Now I’m getting free haircuts and lemon-mints on the area.
Big ups to Tashkeel: Bakhita, Haiya and Lateefa. Thanks for your company Jill, Sameena, Khaled and neighbors.
For your information, this is a personal project. There’s no brands nor any kind of payment related to this wall (or any others). Hope you like it Dubai peeps and i hope this will open doors for more public art projects.
Peace out!
R.
