Artist celebrates Paris in Arabic calligraphy

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 19: An award-winning Franco-Tunisian artist has said that using Arabic language and culture in his work has helped him “reconnect” with his French identity. Thirty-five-year-old eL Seed -- born Faouzi Khleefi to Tunisian parents in Paris -- is the joint winner of the 2017 UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture. Blending Arabic and French themes in paintings, prints and sculptures, he aims, through his “contemporary approach... to bring people, cultures and generations together”. The artist spoke to press this week at a new exhibition about his love for the French capital, where the words “Paris, je t'aime” are written in 3D gold-plated calligraphy. It is the love of his city and his Tunisian heritage which informs much of his work. eL Seed chose his love of Paris as the exhibition theme, aiming to send a message that “art can't be limited to a certain group of the population nor to a place”. “I always carry Paris in my art wherever I go. I always try to use quotes, poems and texts related to this city that I love,” he said. “So this exhibition is kind of a love declaration to Paris, where I was born and grew up.” His art is presented in paintings of colorful, wavy and curvy Arabic calligraphy representing the texts of French writers, poets and artists as well as the Tunisian poet Abu Al-Qasim Echebbi. Three different illustrations carry the words of French poet Charles Baudelaire in Arabic: “Looking from outside into an open window one never sees as much as when one looks through a closed window.” In other illustrations, a quote from writer Jean Cocteau: “There's no such thing as love; only proof of love.” Another carries a message from novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac: “But Paris is a real ocean. Throw out the probe, you will never know the depth.” (Footage by Zelal Aslan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)