Amnesty International/El Zeft
Amnesty International and Egyptian Artist El Zeft, collaborated on a project to address the many human rights violations happening in Egypt. Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who are against the injustices happening all over the world. They also campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. El Zeft is a famous Egyptian street artist who created a mask depicting Egypt’s ancient queen Nefertiti, who was a powerful Egyptian woman figure, to give woman a symbol of the revolution. El Zeft also only creates art that has to do with the revolution happening in Egypt. Together Amnesty International and El Zeft took action against the excessive use of force by Egyptian police against protesters.
In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, he spoke of how, “Images often refer to the past and always they speak of the future”, similarly the use of the rendition of Queen Nefertiti in the Egyptian protests indicates how a woman was equal to a man then, and then voices how a woman can be equal to a man in the future. El Zeft’s creation has paid tribute to all the women who are fighting for their rights and clashing against the police.In a way, El Zeft's art has come to life thanks to Amnesty International Protesters. An ancient powerful queen has come back to liberate the female rebels of the Egyptian revolution.
In 2011 on a Tuesday In December, in Cairo, Egypt; several thousand women came out to protest against military brutality towards women. These women marched the streets to show their anger towards soldiers who had stripped and beat a woman protester that was unarmed. In the protest for women's rights, a poster of a woman with the words, "Down with military rule, military are liars and we will cut your hand." is carried by many women in the march, but unfortunately the artist who created the drawing is unknown.
This poster, lets call it " Down with military rule", and the project created by Amnesty International and El Zeft, are similar in that they their purpose is to take action against police/military, and for the equality and rights for women; they also take place in Egypt. The artists cannot be compared for one is unknown, but what is known is that the artists did it to create change. The "Down with the military" poster and the Queen Nefertiti mask are very much in the same theme, the difference being that they took place in different marches. Another similarity though is that in a way both of the creations were collaborated on by a large group of people. Thanks to the mass collaboration, the problems that women are having in Egypt are becoming known through out the world. Now that more people know about women's rights issues in Egypt, they are trying to help out in any way that they can to make it better. This is what activist art does, it brings forth issues to the world so that everyone can help solve these issues together.
I choose to talk about these projects because the meaning they have is still very prominent in the world today. Not only are women protesting in Egypt about women's rights and police/military brutality, women in different countries are marching for the same thing. The thing is women are tired of being left out and looked down upon, they all want a say in how they are going to live. Agitprop has made it so that people's feelings get thrown out into people's faces. especially street artists like El Zeft who create art where people usually dwell by, so that they have no choice but to be confronted by the issue's of the community. Hopefully these two projects have inspired many to go out and march for what they believe in so that the world will be able to become more equal.
Sources:
Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb, and Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing. London, England: British Broadcasting Corportion, 1973. Print.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are/
http://www.cairoscene.com/ArtsAndCulture/El-Zeft-Revolution
http://www.vosizneias.com/97316/2011/12/20/cairo-thousands-of-egyptian-women-march-against-army-in-fury-over-abuse/
In 2011 on a Tuesday In December, in Cairo, Egypt; several thousand women came out to protest against military brutality towards women. These women marched the streets to show their anger towards soldiers who had stripped and beat a woman protester that was unarmed. In the protest for women's rights, a poster of a woman with the words, "Down with military rule, military are liars and we will cut your hand." is carried by many women in the march, but unfortunately the artist who created the drawing is unknown.
This poster, lets call it " Down with military rule", and the project created by Amnesty International and El Zeft, are similar in that they their purpose is to take action against police/military, and for the equality and rights for women; they also take place in Egypt. The artists cannot be compared for one is unknown, but what is known is that the artists did it to create change. The "Down with the military" poster and the Queen Nefertiti mask are very much in the same theme, the difference being that they took place in different marches. Another similarity though is that in a way both of the creations were collaborated on by a large group of people. Thanks to the mass collaboration, the problems that women are having in Egypt are becoming known through out the world. Now that more people know about women's rights issues in Egypt, they are trying to help out in any way that they can to make it better. This is what activist art does, it brings forth issues to the world so that everyone can help solve these issues together.
I choose to talk about these projects because the meaning they have is still very prominent in the world today. Not only are women protesting in Egypt about women's rights and police/military brutality, women in different countries are marching for the same thing. The thing is women are tired of being left out and looked down upon, they all want a say in how they are going to live. Agitprop has made it so that people's feelings get thrown out into people's faces. especially street artists like El Zeft who create art where people usually dwell by, so that they have no choice but to be confronted by the issue's of the community. Hopefully these two projects have inspired many to go out and march for what they believe in so that the world will be able to become more equal.
Sources:
Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb, and Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing. London, England: British Broadcasting Corportion, 1973. Print.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are/
http://www.cairoscene.com/ArtsAndCulture/El-Zeft-Revolution
http://www.vosizneias.com/97316/2011/12/20/cairo-thousands-of-egyptian-women-march-against-army-in-fury-over-abuse/
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