0:00:00.640,0:00:04.376
So when I decided to create[br]an art piece in Manshiyat Naser,

0:00:04.400,0:00:07.376
the neighborhood of the Cairo[br]garbage collectors in Egypt,

0:00:07.400,0:00:09.216
I never thought this project would be

0:00:09.240,0:00:11.920
the most amazing human experience[br]that I would ever live.

0:00:12.640,0:00:15.336
As an artist, I had[br]this humanist intention

0:00:15.360,0:00:17.736
of beautifying a poor[br]and neglected neighborhood

0:00:17.760,0:00:22.840
by bringing art to it and hopefully[br]shining light on this isolated community.

0:00:24.000,0:00:27.616
The first time I heard about[br]this Christian Coptic community

0:00:27.640,0:00:33.056
was in 2009 when the Egyptian authorities[br]under the regime of Hosni Mubarak

0:00:33.080,0:00:38.880
decided to slaughter 300,000 pigs[br]using the pretext of H1N1 virus.

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Originally, they are pig breeders.

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Their pigs and other animals[br]are fed with the organic waste

0:00:44.720,0:00:46.696
that they collect on a daily basis.

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This event killed their livelihood.

0:00:49.080,0:00:52.536
The first time I entered Manshiyat Naser,[br]it felt like a maze.

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I was looking for the St. Simon Monastery[br]on the top of the Muqattam Mountain.

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So you go right, then straight,[br]then right again, then left

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to reach all the way to the top.

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But to reach there, you must dodge between[br]the trucks overpacked with garbage

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and slalom between the tuk-tuks,

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the fastest vehicle to move around[br]in the neighborhood.

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The smell of the garbage[br]unloaded from those trucks was intense,

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and the noise of the traffic[br]was loud and overbearing.

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Add to it the din created by the crushers[br]in those warehouses along the way.

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From outside it looks chaotic,[br]but everything is perfectly organized.

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The Zaraeeb, that’s how[br]they call themselves,

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which means the pig breeders,

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have been collecting the garbage of Cairo

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and sorting it in their own[br]neighborhood for decades.

0:01:37.840,0:01:39.976
They have developed[br]one of the most efficient

0:01:40.000,0:01:43.296
and highly profitable systems[br]on a global level.

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Still, the place is perceived[br]as dirty, marginalized and segregated

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because of their association[br]with the trash.

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So my initial idea[br]was to create an anamorphic piece,

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a piece that you can only see[br]from one vantage point.

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I wanted to challenge myself artistically[br]by painting over several buildings

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and having it only fully visible[br]from one point on the Muqattam Mountain.

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The Muqattam Mountain[br]is the pride of the community.

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This is where they built[br]the St. Simon Monastery,

0:02:11.440,0:02:16.560
a 10,000-seat cave church[br]that they carved into the mountain itself.

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So, the first time[br]I stood on top of the mountain

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and I looked at the neighborhood,

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I asked myself, how on earth[br]will I convince all those owners

0:02:25.840,0:02:28.016
to let me paint on their buildings?

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And then Magd came.

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Magd is a guide from the Church.

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He told me the only person I needed[br]to convince was Father Samaan,

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who is the leader of the community.

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But to convince Father Samaan,[br]I needed to convince Mario,

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who is a Polish artist[br]who moved to Cairo 20 years ago

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and who created all the artwork[br]of the Cave Church.

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I am really grateful to Mario.[br]He was the key of the project.

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He managed to get me[br]a meeting with Father Samaan,

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and surprisingly, he loved the idea.

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He asked me about where I painted before

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and how I will make it happen.

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And he was mainly concerned[br]by what I was going to write.

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In every work that I create,[br]I write messages

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with my style of Arabic calligraphy.

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I make sure those messages are relevant[br]to the place where I am painting

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but have this universal dimension,

0:03:14.124,0:03:16.924
so anybody around the world[br]can relate to it.

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So for Manshiyat Naser,

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I decided to write in Arabic[br]the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria,

0:03:23.640,0:03:25.576
a Coptic bishop from the third century,

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who said: (Arabic),

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which means in English,

0:03:31.480,0:03:33.616
"Anyone who wants[br]to see the sunlight clearly

0:03:33.640,0:03:35.120
needs to wipe his eyes first."

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It was really important for me

0:03:37.600,0:03:40.496
that the community[br]felt connected to the words.

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And for me this quote was perfectly[br]reflecting the spirit of the project.

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So Father Samaan blessed the project,

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and his approval brought[br]all the residents on board.

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Hundreds of liters of paint,[br]a dozen blue manual lifts,

0:03:54.960,0:03:57.096
several trips back and forth to Cairo,

0:03:57.120,0:04:01.256
a strong and solid team from France,[br]North Africa, Middle East and the US,

0:04:01.280,0:04:04.736
and after a year of planning[br]and logistics, there we are,

0:04:04.760,0:04:07.376
my team and some members[br]from the local community

0:04:07.400,0:04:10.896
creating a piece that will[br]spread over 50 buildings,

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some filling up the space[br]of the calligraphy

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that I trace with colors.

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Here some blue, there some yellow,[br]there some orange.

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Some others carrying some sand bags

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and putting them[br]on the top of the buildings

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to hold those manual lifts,

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and some others assembling[br]and disassembling those same lifts

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and moving them around[br]the different buildings.

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At the beginning of the project,

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I numbered all those[br]buildings on my sketch,

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and there was no real interaction[br]with the community.

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People didn’t get the point of all this.

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But fast enough, those building numbers[br]became family names.

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The first building[br]was the house of Uncle Ibrahim.

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Uncle Ibrahim is such[br]an enthusiastic person.

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He was always singing and making jokes,

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and his daughters and sons[br]saved me from his bull

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who wanted to attack me[br]on the fourth floor.

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(Laughter)

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Actually, the bull saw me from the window[br]and came out on the balcony.

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(Laughter)

0:05:05.120,0:05:06.320
Yeah.

0:05:09.680,0:05:12.336
Uncle Ibrahim was always[br]hanging out on the balcony

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and talking to me while I was painting.

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I remember him saying that he didn’t[br]go to the mountain for 10 years,

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and that he never takes a day off.

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He said that if he stopped working,[br]who will stop the garbage?

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But surprisingly,[br]at the end of the project,

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he came all the way to the mountain[br]to look at the piece.

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He was really proud[br]to see his house painted,

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and he said that this project[br]was a project of peace and --

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sorry --

0:05:41.000,0:05:43.560
(Applause)

0:05:54.400,0:05:55.600
Thank you.

0:05:56.320,0:06:01.296
He said that it was a project[br]of peace and unity

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and that it brought people together.

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So his perception[br]towards the project changed,

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and my perception towards[br]the community changed also,

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and towards what they do.

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All the garbage that everybody[br]is disgusted by is not theirs.

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They just work out of it.

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Actually, they don’t live in the garbage.[br]They live from the garbage.

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So I started doubting myself and wondering

0:06:24.480,0:06:28.256
what was the real purpose[br]of this whole project?

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It was not about beautifying[br]a place by bringing art to it.

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It was about switching perception[br]and opening a dialogue

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on the connection that we have[br]with communities that we don’t know.

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So day after day,

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the calligraphy circle was taking shape,

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and we were always excited to go back[br]on the mountain to look at the piece.

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And standing exactly at this point[br]every day made my realize

0:06:50.440,0:06:53.256
the symbolism behind[br]this anamorphic piece.

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If you want to see[br]the real image of somebody,

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maybe you should change your angle.

0:06:58.440,0:07:00.256
There was doubts and difficulties,

0:07:00.280,0:07:01.536
like fears and stress.

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It wasn't simple[br]to work in such environments,

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sometimes having pigs under you[br]while you paint

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or climbing a stack of garbage[br]to reach a lift.

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But we all got over the fear[br]of the heights, the swinging lifts,

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the strength of the smell

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and also the stress[br]of not finishing on time.

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But the kindness of all those people[br]made us forget everything.

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The building number 3 was the house[br]of Uncle Bakheet and Aunty Fareeda.

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In Egyptian, they have[br]this expression that says, "Ahsen Nas,"

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which means "the best people."

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They were the best people.

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We used to take our break[br]in front of their houses,

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and all the kids of the neighborhood

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used to join us.

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I was impressed and amazed[br]by the kids of Manshiyat Naser.

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For the first few days, they were always[br]refusing anything we were offering them,

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even a snack or a drink.

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So I asked Aunty Fareeda, "Why is that?"

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And she told me they teach[br]their kids to refuse anything

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from somebody that they don't know

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because maybe this person[br]needs it more than they do.

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So at this exact point I realized actually

0:08:02.920,0:08:05.056
the Zaraeeb community[br]was the ideal context

0:08:05.080,0:08:06.680
to raise the topic of perception.

0:08:07.240,0:08:10.536
We need to question[br]our level of misconception

0:08:10.560,0:08:13.216
and judgment we can have as a society

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upon communities[br]based on their differences.

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I remember how we got delayed[br]on Uncle Ibrahim's house

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when his pigs that are bred on the rooftop

0:08:22.600,0:08:25.176
were eating the sand bags[br]that hold the lifts.

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(Laughter)

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The house of Uncle Bakheet[br]and Aunty Fareeda

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was this kind of meeting point.

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Everybody used to gather there.

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I think this is what Uncle Ibrahim meant

0:08:36.120,0:08:38.736
when he said that was[br]a project of peace and unity,

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because I really felt[br]that people were coming together.

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Everyone was greeting us[br]with a smile, offering us a drink

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or inviting us into their[br]own house for lunch.

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Sometime, you are[br]at the first level of a building,

0:08:52.600,0:08:55.136
and somebody opens his window[br]and offers you some tea.

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And then the same thing happens[br]on the second floor.

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And you keep going all the way to the top.

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(Laughter)

0:09:00.920,0:09:02.376
(Applause)

0:09:02.400,0:09:04.856
I think I never drink as much tea[br]as I did in Egypt.

0:09:04.880,0:09:06.696
(Laughter)

0:09:06.720,0:09:09.456
And to be honest with you,[br]we could have finished earlier,

0:09:09.480,0:09:12.656
but I think it took us three weeks[br]because of all those tea breaks.

0:09:12.680,0:09:14.480
(Laughter)

0:09:16.520,0:09:20.056
In Egypt, they have another expression,[br]which is "Nawartouna,"

0:09:20.080,0:09:22.200
which means, "You brought light to us."

0:09:23.200,0:09:26.096
In Manshiyat Naser[br]they were always telling us this.

0:09:26.120,0:09:28.256
The calligraphy, actually --

0:09:28.280,0:09:32.336
I used a white glow-in-the-dark paint[br]for the calligraphy

0:09:32.360,0:09:36.536
so at the end of the project,[br]we rented some black light projectors

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and lit up the whole neighborhood,

0:09:38.960,0:09:40.336
surprising everybody around.

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We wanted to tell them

0:09:41.640,0:09:43.840
that they are the ones[br]who brought light to us.

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(Applause)

0:09:57.000,0:10:01.056
The Zaraeeb community[br]are strong, honest, hard workers,

0:10:01.080,0:10:02.816
and they know their value.

0:10:02.840,0:10:04.976
The people of Cairo[br]call them "the Zabaleen,"

0:10:05.000,0:10:06.976
which means "the people of the garbage,"

0:10:07.000,0:10:09.736
but ironically,[br]the people of Manshiyat Naser

0:10:09.760,0:10:11.616
call the people of Cairo the Zabaleen.

0:10:11.640,0:10:14.576
They say, they are the ones[br]who produce the garbage, not them.

0:10:14.600,0:10:15.816
(Laughter)

0:10:15.840,0:10:17.216
(Applause)

0:10:17.240,0:10:19.616
The goal was to leave something[br]to this community,

0:10:19.640,0:10:22.776
but I feel that they are the ones[br]who left something in our lives.

0:10:22.800,0:10:24.896
You know, the art project[br]was just a pretext

0:10:24.920,0:10:26.576
for this amazing human experience.

0:10:26.600,0:10:29.016
The art piece at some point[br]will disappear, vanish,

0:10:29.040,0:10:31.936
and actually there is somebody[br]who is building a second floor

0:10:31.960,0:10:33.616
in front of Uncle Ibrahim's house,

0:10:33.640,0:10:35.496
so it's covering part of the painting,

0:10:35.520,0:10:37.656
so I might need to go back[br]and paint over it.

0:10:37.680,0:10:39.296
(Laughter)

0:10:39.320,0:10:40.696
It was about the experience,

0:10:40.720,0:10:42.136
about the story,

0:10:42.160,0:10:43.440
about the moment.

0:10:44.560,0:10:46.456
From the streets of the neighborhood,

0:10:46.480,0:10:48.100
the painting appears in fragments,

0:10:48.124,0:10:50.016
isolated from one another,

0:10:50.040,0:10:51.296
standing alone.

0:10:51.320,0:10:53.496
But connected with the sign of calligraphy

0:10:53.520,0:10:57.376
that today reveals the powerful message[br]that we should all think about

0:10:57.400,0:10:59.080
before we want to judge somebody.

0:10:59.640,0:11:01.776
Anyone who wants to see[br]the sunlight clearly

0:11:01.800,0:11:03.240
needs to wipe his eyes first.

0:11:03.760,0:11:05.176
Thank you.

0:11:05.200,0:11:12.961
(Applause)