culture's soup

The earliest forms of newspaper were handwritten and now The ‘Musalman‘ probably remains as the last handwritten newspaper in the world. This Urdu language newspaper was established in 1927 by Chenab Syed Asmadullah Sahi and is being published daily in the Chennai city of India ever since.

It is presently run by Syed Asmadullah's grand son Syed Arifullah and six skilled calligraphers work on this four pages newspaper everyday. With a circulation of approximately 23000 the paper covers news in Urdu language across a wide spectrum including politics, culture and sports. With the recent technological advances, where paper newspapers are going extinct because people read them on net, this personable touch is rare to find. The price of this paper remains at 75 Paise (approximately 2 US cents).

Signboard of the office. Screenshot from the video The Musalman

MadanMohan Tarun reports:

Presently it is edited by Mr. Syed Arifullah. He took over the charge after his father died. His father ran this paper for 40 years. It was founded by his grandfather in 1927. This paper has maintained its original look and had not compromised with the Urdu computer font. [..]

Preparation of its every page takes about three hours. After the news is received in English from its part time reporters, it is translated into Urdu and Katibs – writers, dedicated to the ancient art of Urdu calligraphy, pen – down the whole story on paper. After that negative copy of the entire hand –written paper is prepared and pressed on printing plates.

Calligraphers at work. Screenshot from the video 'The Musalman'

Afsar Shaheen comments in a post of Luthfispace elaborating why lithography is still being adopted:

Urdu type setting was very difficult; also, typeset work looked ugly in comparison to handwritten work. Therefore, Urdu resorted to lithography while other languages adopted typeset.

With the advent of computer, Urdu writing got great boost. It allowed calligraphic writing without the problems of lithography. Yet, a book or newspaper written by a good katib and properly lithographed is very pleasing and beautiful; computer written Urdu is no match.

Check out this video directed by Ishani K. Dutta and produced and uploaded to Youtube by the Public Diplomacy Division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs:

Written by Rezwan · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

By Jillian C. York

Henna as an art form has existed for thousands of years.  Found from Morocco to Bangladesh, henna is used to dye the hair and decorate the body.  In Morocco, henna is used to decorate the hands and feet with intricate patterns, and to tint the hair at the hammam.

Recently, a new book documenting the ancient art of henna was released.  The book, entitled “Moor: A Henna Atlas of Morocco,” contains illustrations and photographs of the beautiful Moroccan version of the art form.  A sneak peek:

The book's authors also have a blog, entitled Moor Henna.

Peace Corps volunteer Emily (Emily and Jon in Morocco) recently experienced henna firsthand. On the blog, she posts photographs of henna being applied at the artisana where she works:

Henna being applied in Morocco

Emily also posts a photograph of her own arm, post-henna:

Henna, several hours after application

Of the experience, Emily says:

When I got home I dabbed the dried henna with some olive oil before peeling it off. The girls told me to just use vegetable oil (probably because it's cheaper), but I opted for the good stuff. I think the oil is supposed to help the henna “set,” but it also just feels nice on the skin because the dried henna doesn't feel that great. when the henna first comes off it's bright yellow, then darkens up over the next several hours. By today it was a nice brown color.

Through videos, we see and learn about the cultural importance and economical boost that working with fabric is giving some people and organizations in Mali. From a women's group which claim to have placed Mali as a power in the cloth dying industry, to artists who have decided to make Bamako or mud dyed cloths their medium, to the touristic industry that has grown around this art.

First, via Craft: we learned of a recent fundraising activity Maureen Gosling organized to assist her in finishing her documentary about the women cloth dyers of Bamako (Mali's capital city).  In this video preview, the women dyers speak about the importance their dyed cloth has in Mali and how working with it has impacted their lives:

Another traditional textile is the mudcloth. This next video from TravelWestAfrica shot in Ségou, we see how they make the dyes which include the mud that gives the cloth its name:

Another name for the mudcloth is Bogolanfini; in this following video by hubuf made in 2006, a trainer explains to a group of students what bogolan is, what it's made of and what it means for Malian culture:

In this next video by claudiodumali we can see a group of visitors learning by doing; with small scraps of cloth they experiment with the different dyes and muds used in Bogolan making in Ségou:

If you wish to know more about Bogolan, polbenmali has uploaded a 2 part documentary (part 1, part 2 [fr]) on Issiaka Dembele, an artist who turned to Bogolan as his medium. In the videos, Dembele speaks in French about his trade, but the images show clearly the intricate and time consuming process of dying the fabric yellow, covering it in pond mud left to rot for months which will turn the fabric black, and then going over the yellow areas to remove the dye in certain parts, painting over other colors in others:

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of posts about graffitti and urban art around Latin America. To visit the first series, please click here.

In public spaces, street art (or urban art) represents the voice of the community, marginal groups, and young people that strive to be heard, often defying the notion of private property. Latin America is not an exception for this. Some of Latin American street art is distinct from what is created by the hip-hop movement, focusing on political messages and stories of struggle that speak directly to the viewer.

Through the lens of bloggers, Flickr users and communities, and contributors on YouTube, we offer you an online tour of the art of the streets that communicate secrets and passions at every turn.

Cuba

As in any organized community, graffiti has its own rules. Graffiti’s primary medium of creation is aerosol spray paint. Experienced graffiti writers use different sizes of spray valves to control the spread and pressure of the paint, and refill the cans to save money. Thus, it is not uncommon to find artists that consider street paintings that use other medium or techniques (like acrillic paint, brushes, and such) as not part of the graffiti community. These type of paintings might be considered more “art-oriented”, as Guatemalan artist NEARsyx from Hemisferio Urbano expressed in part I of this article. In other words, the variation of medium in graffiti is usually related to the term “street art”.

However, the case of Cuba stands in the middle of this, as shown in a short documentary film called “Havana Bombings” about the Cuban graffiti created and shared by Camila Fernández:

One of the interviewees explains a unique characteristic of Cuban graffiti:

Por las características de la economía, se hace muy caro. Lo que supuestamente se hacía con spray porque el resultado es barato, aquí es todo lo contrario. Aquí el spray se encarece mucho. Se usan recursos alternativos. En el festival de Alamar, Rudolfo Renzoni, que fue el creador del festival internacional de rap, la gente, los graffiteros, decían “¿cómo vamos a hacer graffiti si no tenemos spray?”. Y él decía que no, para hacer graffiti no necesariamente necesitas spray.

The documentary features artists Ink (César Rojas) and NoNo12 (Yanelis Valdés) using paint brushes to create their work on murals.

Another video (provided by user vadebike) shows a gathering in Alamar, one of the cities where the movement has higher activity, with urban artists that use these “alternative” means to create graffiti.

Chile

There are many reasons behind doing street art. One of them deals with bringing public spaces back to life with community art instead of commercializing it, as it happens with abandoned lots and murals. Following a similar aesthetic approach to the street art is blog KELP [es] (”kultura en la pared” / “kulture on the wall”), which focuses on graffiti as way to enhance urban design in Chile. Its statement reads:

KELP.cl busca explorar y promover el trabajo plástico del graffiti, casi desde la perspectiva disciplinar del diseño. Su postura no es reaccionaria ni violenta. Rechazan el vandalismo. Tampoco profundizan en la ideología o el conflicto social que hay tras de muchas de estas expresiones. Eso les permite centrarse principalmente, en la propuesta estética, por lo que generalmente escogen los mejores ejemplos mundiales

Earlier this year, the author of KELP profiled Grin, a Chilean artist [es] who has been active for more than a decade. Grin combines his passion for graffiti with another urban discipline: architecture. He practices both in enormous murals that play with depth and texture, and sometimes they merge with the structure of the building itself:

Photo by KELP. Used with permission. Taken from www.kelp.cl

Browsing through the large pools of photos of the streets of Chile of Street Art Valparaíso, Chile*stencil or Los Muros Nos Hablan, it is easy to find other creative examples on how urban buildings and colored fantasies live in the same space harmonically:

Photo by justin fain. Used following a Creative Commons license. Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/fainspawn/2769790038/

Latin America Region

Graffiti suramericano, South American Graffiti and SMNR are some of the Flickr groups that collect street art works for the region. Blog network Murales Políticos dedicates one blog for several countries of Latin America to display an interesting gallery of political-oriented murals.

Editor's Note: This is the first in a 3-part series about graffiti and other urban art from various Latin American countries.

Although its modern incarnation originated in United States three decades ago, graffiti art can be found in the urban areas of almost every country. By now, the drawings and messages sprayed on walls, murals, and other spaces have been widely covered by both citizen and traditional media. They are also slowly gaining recognition as a controversial art, along with the rise of other urban expressions like stencils, posters, stickers, and mixed techniques.

In public spaces, street art (or urban art) represents the voice of the community, marginal groups, and young people that strive to be heard, often defying the notion of private property. Latin America is not an exception for this. Some of Latin American street art is distinct from what is created by the hip-hop movement, focusing on political messages and stories of struggle that speak directly to the viewer.

Through the lens of bloggers, Flickr users and communities, and contributors on YouTube, we offer you an online tour of the art of the streets that communicate secrets and passions at every turn.

Perú

Photo by The/Waz. Used following a Creative Commons license. Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewaz/2696394170/in/set-72157605789705430/

Internet users preserve art because photographed walls neither wash away, nor decay with time. They can also provide information of the artist's name or pseudonym, location, description, and put the art into context. In a group about Peruvian graffiti on Flickr, there is a discussion about the short careers of the artists, user DeCe-RTOR pointed out some of social responsibilities [es] of the street art in Perú:

el arte en peru necesita una reforma, pues a tenido siempre rupturas como terrorismo, corrupcion, mal sistema educativo y sobretodo pobreza,, asi con todos esos problemas es q no se avanza en ningun sentido, asi no se desarrolla ni cagando este pais, y el arte va tan de la mano con el desarrollo q si no se cultiva este pues no se puede esperar mucho, quienes tienen claro q es el graffiti y lo hacen espero q tengan conciencia del poder q es estar en la calle, por lo tanto hay q tomarlo con responsabilidad y aveces para hacer lo mejor es necesario hacer sacrificios, aveces dejando de pintar egocentricamente lo que uno desea, lo q uno solo puede entender.. y dedicar esas fuerzas y ganas en representar lo que la comunidad quiere ver, y necesita saber… siempre buscando la manera de que ademas q guste a todos, guste a uno,, ahi esta la chamba…

Photo by Luis Fonseca. Used with permission. Taken from http://cazadordegraffitis.blogspot.com/2008/11/sentimientos-ocultos.html

On a more personal level, blogger Luis Fonseca wanders through the streets of Lima taking pictures of urban art, which he shares in his blog Cazador de graffitis [es] with songs, poetry, and reflections on the works like the one shown above [es]:

Iba en el bus un poco mal por cosas de la vida y pensaba que nadie la podía estar pasando peor que yo. Levante la mirada y vi esta imagen en un muro [es], rapidamente pense que mi problema no era nada a comparación de otras personas que viven más tiempo sumergidos en problemas que en paz.

Sometimes the communication is even more direct: graffiti artists like Faber take advantage of the anonymity the electronic media grants to promote their work, to show by themselves and their portfolio without any risk of being prosecuted. With minimal commentaries (“busca la sencillez de las cosas” / “look for the simplicity in things”), Faber shares through Flickr and Fotolog [es] his colorful portraits of sad characters, some of them in poverty, without revealing much of himself except his incredible abilities to create:

Related work can be found on the groups of Flickr Peruvian graffiti and Peruvian street art.

Colombia

It reads If the press makes silence, then walls should speak. Photo by Juan Arellano. Used with permission. Taken from http://es.zooomr.com/photos/cyberjuan/8272064/

Common graffiti is known for being a ‘code’: only members of the neighborhoods can understand the intricate traces and calligraphy, the “wild style”, or the code numbers used to represent names and places. However, along with these obscure messages, explicit messages can also be found on the streets, using clear and spaced letters, leaning towards protest. On his blog Globalizado [es], Peruvian blogger Juan Arellano shares photos of the graffiti he found in Pasto, Colombia, and he concedes that most of the times he does not understand it:

En realidad no soy tan aficionado a los graffitis, la mayor parte de veces ni siquiera entiendo que dicen dada la complicada grafía que utilizan muchos de los graffiteros, pero cuando el mensaje va claro y directo obviamente que si.

An extensive gallery of explicit graffiti can be found on El Blog Canalla [es], where El Reticente [es] and Alejandro [es] collect politically oriented street art on the streets of Medellín. Although they barely comment on their collection, their slogan holds a message of protest:

Si los medios son del Estado, las paredes son Nuestras

This is a photo taken in the streets of Bogotá, that reads “Huya, lucha, y vuelve a nacer” (”Run away, fight, and be born again”):

Photo by El blog Canalla. Used with permission. Taken from http://elblogcanalla.tumblr.com/post/290759594/huye-lucha-y-vuelve-a-nacer-bogota-colombia

Flickr groups for urban art of the cities of Cali and Bogotá share photos from almost 300 members altogether.

Guatemala

Photo by Oscar Mota. Used following a Creative Commons license. Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscarmota/1132340373/in/set-72157601472161317/

“Writers” is how graffiti artists call themselves because of their use of quick signatures (called tags) and bombed letters (known as bombs). In the case of Ricardo (alias NEARsyx [es]), he is a grafitti writer, and also a blogger at Hemisferio Urbano [es] he shares events, profiles of other graffiti artists, gathers media coverage of the movement, and also sums up the feeling of his graffiti crews and the community.

In 2007, he documented the situation of the graffiti in Guatemala [es] and criticized how television coverage does not differentiate “artistic” graffiti from “vandal” graffiti, the latter commonly associated with illegal tags and bombs:

Lastimosamente aquí, y creo que en muchos otros lugares, el graffiti aun se asocia bastante a las pandillas, un claro ejemplo de esto es un pequeño documental que recientemente realizo Noti7, un noticiero local, donde la edición de este fue parte crucial para dejar a todo mundo bastante confundido y con la misma imagen de que el graffiti es de pandilleros.

En el documental aparecen algunos de los que si realmente forman parte del movimiento artístico, lo malo es que las imágenes de piezas y entrevistas con ellos fueron mezcladas con imágenes del graffiti pandillero, algo que nos dejo con una mal sabor de boca a todos los que formamos parte de la verdadera comunidad del graff.

Nonetheless, both artistic and “non-artistic” graffiti share walls and prolonged murals as shown in the video from user Artesinley of some streets in Guatemala City:

More images from the urban art of Guatemala can be found on Flickr in the Graffiti Guatemalteco group and Hemisferio urbano's account.