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Two years ago, I was invited as an artist

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to participate in an exhibition commemorating

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100 years of Islamic art in Europe.

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The curator had only one condition:

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I had to use the Arabic script for my artwork.

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Now, as an artist, a woman, an Arab,

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or a human being living in the world in 2010,

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I only had one thing to say:

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I wanted to say no.

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And in Arabic, to say "no," we say "no,

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and a thousand times no."

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So I decided to look for a thousand different noes.

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on everything ever produced

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under Islamic or Arab patronage in the past 1,400 years,

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from Spain to the borders of China.

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I collected my findings in a book,

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placed them chronologically, stating the name,

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the patron, the medium and the date.

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Now, the book sat on a small shelf next to the installation,

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which stood three by seven meters, in Munich, Germany,

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in September of 2010.

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Now, in January, 2011, the revolution started,

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and life stopped for 18 days,

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and on the 12th of February,

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we naively celebrated on the streets of Cairo,

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believing that the revolution had succeeded.

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Nine months later I found myself spraying messages

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in Tahrir Square. The reason for this act

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was this image that I saw in my newsfeed.

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I did not feel that I could live in a city

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where people were being killed

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and thrown like garbage on the street.

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So I took one "no" off a tombstone from

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the Islamic Museum in Cairo, and I added a message to it:

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"no to military rule."

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And I started spraying that on the streets in Cairo.

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But that led to a series of no, coming out of the book

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like ammunition, and adding messages to them,

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and I started spraying them on the walls.

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So I'll be sharing some of these noes with you.

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No to a new Pharaoh, because whoever comes next

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should understand that we will never be ruled by another dictator.

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No to violence: Ramy Essam came to Tahrir

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on the second day of the revolution,

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and he sat there with this guitar, singing.

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One month after Mubarak stepped down, this was his reward.

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No to blinding heroes. Ahmed Harara lost his right eye

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on the 28th of January,

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and he lost his left eye on the 19th of November,

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by two different snipers.

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No to killing, in this case no to killing men of religion,

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because Sheikh Ahmed Adina Refaat was shot

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on December 16th, during a demonstration,

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leaving behind three orphans and a widow.

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No to burning books. The Institute of Egypt was burned

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on December 17th, a huge cultural loss.

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No to stripping the people,

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and the blue bra is to remind us of our shame

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as a nation when we allow a veiled woman to be stripped

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and beaten on the street, and the footprint reads,

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"Long live a peaceful revolution,"

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because we will never retaliate with violence.

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No to barrier walls. On February 5th,

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concrete roadblocks were set up in Cairo

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to protect the Ministry of Defense from protesters.

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Now, speaking of walls, I want to share with you the story

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of one wall in Cairo.

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A group of artists decided to paint a life-size tank

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on a wall. It's one to one.

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In front of this tank there's a man on a bicycle

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with a breadbasket on his head. To any passerby,

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there's no problem with this visual.

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After acts of violence, another artist came,

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painted blood, protesters being run over by the tank,

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demonstrators, and a message that read,

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"Starting tomorrow, I wear the new face,

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the face of every martyr. I exist."

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Authority comes, paints the wall white,

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leaves the tank and adds a message:

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"Army and people, one hand. Egypt for Egyptians."

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Another artist comes, paints the head of the military

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as a monster eating a maiden in a river of blood

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in front of the tank.

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Authority comes, paints the wall white, leaves the tank,

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leaves the suit, and throws a bucket of black paint

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just to hide the face of the monster.

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So I come with my stencils, and I spray them on the suit,

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on the tank, and on the whole wall,

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and this is how it stands today

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until further notice. (Laughter)

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Now, I want to leave you with a final no.

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I found Neruda scribbled on a piece of paper

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in a field hospital in Tahrir, and I decided to take a no of

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Mamluk Mausoleum in Cairo.

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The message reads,

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[Arabic]

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"You can crush the flowers, but you can't delay spring."

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Thank you. (Applause)

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(Applause)

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Thank you. Shukran. (Applause)