The walls of the parking lot of Le Promenade 2 in Tahlia Street represented freedom to more than a hundred young men and women recently. They young people were coloring their thoughts and marking them out with sprays and flumaster pens. It was new blood running in Jeddah’s veins in the city’s first-ever graffiti contest.
The temperature was high in the place and the competition was hot among those who were hungry to splash colors without feeling guilty about ruining public landmarks in the city. The parking that is usually full of cars was swarming with guys in funky outfits as the abaya-clad girls dried their sweaty foreheads. The guys and girls were borrowing sprays and colors from one other and were so excited that the competition continued until midnight last Wednesday (June 20).
Wed Khashogji, a 27-year-old creative artist at an advertising agency, was spraying the purple shirt of the character she was drawing, a reckless type with a cigarette in his mouth. “This is the first time I’ve drawn on a wall,” she said. “I registered online on the contest’s website www.zahid-trec.com and was thrilled to do so immediately after my colleague, another participant, told me about it.”
She submitted a sample of her work to the judges who allowed her to enter the competition. Khashogji has an artistic background as she studied fine arts in Cairo and has several paintings displayed in Pearls’ Café in Al-Rawda District here. “I like pop and abstract art more that other kinds,” she added. Graffiti drawing was a chance for her to try something different and draw a figure whom, she says, attracted her by his personality.
Fourteen-year-old, Sarah Jan, was drawing her nickname with some effect. She preferred to draw on a tableau rather on the wall as she is not into spraying. It is the first time she has participated in such an event. Jan was holding a flumaster black coloring pen, shaping her nickname and flaming it up at the end with some orange touches like flames of fire.
An interesting picture from the guys was one by Abdul Mohsen Al-Qahtani. His painting attracted attention from far away. He used all the space on his wall to draw a picture of a half-bald man with his face wrinkled and him rapt in thought. He delivered his message — which is a call for youth to think — wrapped inside his drawing, spelling out the words “Think then do!”
Al-Qahtani is a portrait painter and cartoonist working for Abha’s King Khalid’s University magazine in addition to being a student. He came to Jeddah on vacation and felt sorry for the city’s walls that were splashed with harsh unpleasant colors. As soon as he heard of the competition, he went online and registered.
“It is really bad that these young people are ruining Jeddah’s walls. This competition ought to be the first and other companies should sponsor one. Contests would keep young people from splashing colors randomly on walls and writing nasty words and expressions,” he said.
He hoped to win but the most important thing for him is that he participated in the contest and expressed his thoughts in his painting.
“The competition is really fun and I’m enjoying meeting new people and doing something that interests me although I don’t expect to win,” said Abdullah Al-Kurashi, a 21-year-CBA-student. Al-Kurashi was doing the standard style of graffiti merging letters of the word ‘Style’.
Prizes were announced a week after the contest with the first prize given to the décor designer, Mohamed Kamil, who received a check for SR5,000. “I worked hard on my picture and hoped to win and thank God I did,” he said. “I would also be happy if someone else won because they all deserve to win and did a great job.”
Kamil heard about the contest from a newspaper two weeks before it took place and entered immediately without any preparation or training. It was the first time he has participated in such a contest; however, he is familiar with art because of his career as a décor designer. “My work and graffiti have a common factor which is art. I hope that this will be a new genre to follow after this completion,” he said.
Maria Mahdali, a graphic design student at Dar Al-Hekma College, was the only female winner; she placed second and received a check for SR3,000. Third place was won by Mohammed Jan, who got SR1,000.
Mahdali has never tried graffiti before and didn’t expect to win. “I’m interested in painting and photography and anything related to art. I felt that it would be interesting when I read about it online, especially that women are allowed to compete so I had to participate. “J(Jeddah) City is the place to be” was her graffiti.
She said that such events are really important for the youth, girls and boys. The events enable young people to express their feelings and develop their talents. “Graffiti in the street is very bad and has negative influences without using colors or any style. They are spread everywhere in the city, even in the most unsuitable places.”
The administration director of Al-Zahid for Real Estate Development, Khalid Banabeela said that the organizers and judges were surprised by the high standards of the participants.
“We succeeded in attracting the attention of people in the community to this group in society and their talents. And at the same time, we gave them the space and freedom to express what they feel through their art,” he said.
He said that Al-Zahid, who was the organizer and one of the sponsors, aims to repeat the experience in the next few years with various other art forms. “We are thinking of doing one with Islamic art,” he added.
The judges of the contest were Kareem Haratani, marketing manager of Al-Zahid Trec, Tarik Shihab, senior account executive at Marwan Advertising, Rakan Ali, one of the organizers and a graffitist and Hadeel Al-Badri, junior account executive of Phenomenal Advertising Company.
Rakan Ali, judge and organizer, said that those who used brushes or anything other than sprays were eliminated although the contest offered canvasses for the participants to paint on. He said that this was to give the majority of young people the opportunity to participate, even if not on walls.
“The event showed a range of abilities of people from different backgrounds and cultures living in Jeddah. Graffiti is all about expression so it was important that these people deliver a message through their paintings and that was one of the main criterion,” he said.
Ecko, a brand of Al-Zahid, was the organizer while Al-Zahid Trec and Renault were the sponsors. Though the competition has ended, the graffiti will remain on the parking lot of the mall for an unspecified amount of time — but more than three months. Tableaux will also be displayed inside Le Promenade.
