From the early days of the Egyptian revolution, protesters adopted their ancestors way of documenting the glorious days, documenting the days of the revolutions on the walls of Tahrir Square in central Cairo, the epicentre of demonstrations. In turn, the graffiti frenzy flourished across the walls of Cairo [1].
In his blog El Aam Tonsy relates [2] the phenomenon to the Pharaohs’ drawings found on the walls of temples:
كعادة المصري من قديم الأزل هي تسجيل الأحداث على الحائط
Like the Pharaohs from a long tine ago, Egyptians are accustomed to document their events on walls
The rise of graffiti continued even after the regime stepped down. Artists took it to a different level, and thought that murals could be a way to commemorate the revolution's martyrs.
Ganzeer demonstrates [3]the amazing work exerted in completing Tarek Abdel Latif's mural located in Zamalek:
[4]
The noble initiative continued, to include tributes to different martyrs across the districts of Egypt. Alas, one morning Ganzeer [5] woke up to find that one of the Martyr's murals has been removed [6].
[7]
[8]
He wrote:
@ganzeer #martyr islam raafat's #mural in midan Falaky has been removed #streetart #postjan25 #Cairo #egypt
It has been said that the mural has been removed by government authorities. However, the move was greatly disdained:
“@PrinceofRazors: The dead have faces, names, histories. Erasing their memorials is another act of violence &control.
Ganzeer called for a quick reaction represented in Mad Graffiti Weekend #madgraffitiweekend. The idea is dedicating a weekend (2 days) of hardcore Graffiti across the city of Cairo to enforce the fact that Art as a free expression that shouldn't be wiped out or eradicated.
He called for a preliminary meeting on Friday 29th [9] to gear up for the Mad Graffiti Weekend. The goals of the meeting are:
1- Ensuring that the streets of Egypt belong to the people of Egypt.
2- Planning workable themes for Egyptian streets given the current circumstances.
3- Planning locations.
4- Creating work-groups
The invitation to take part has not been only extended to artists but also to bloggers, and photographers as well as anyone who can help promote the fact the those who claimed their country's freedom shouldn't be denied the right of the freedom of expression.