SAUDI ARABIA-GRAFFITI/KING Jeddah graffiti artists express their support for the new king

Record ID: 189618

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA-GRAFFITI/KING Jeddah graffiti artists express their support for the new king
  • Date: 24th February 2015
  • Summary: JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA (FEBRUARY 20, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GROUP OF SAUDI GRAFFITI ARTISTS PAINTING ON A STREET WALL HAND PICKING UP CAN OF SPRAY PAINT FROM BOX VARIOUS OF ARTISTS PAINTING PEOPLE WATCHING IPAD SCREEN SHOWING PICTURE OF SAUDI CROWN PRINCE MUQRIN BIN ABDULAZIZ VARIOUS OF ARTISTS COPYING PRINCE MUQRIN'S PICTURE FROM IPAD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AN ARTIST, ABDULLAH HASSAN, SAYING: " We like to pledge allegiance to the King in our way through the graffiti, and we hope it will gain the admiration of the people of Jeddah and the King of course, may God protect him, and we hope he visits us." ARTIST PAINTING PICTURE OF SAUDI DEPUTY CROWN MINISTER ON THE WALL ARTIST SHOWING THE PICTURE TO MAYOR OF JEDDAH MAYOR OF JEDDAH, DR.HANI ABU RAS, SIGNING THE WORK ON THE WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAYOR OF JEDDAH, DR.HANI ABU RAS, SAYING: "The municipality has long persuaded the line of engaging with young people to show their creativity in various activities and certainly the young people of Jeddah had excelled in graffiti." YOUNG PEOPLE WATCHING THE ARTISTS CHILD TAKING PICTURE THE ARTISTS FINISHING PAINTING GRAFFITI OF PRINCE MUQRIN CHILDREN WATCHING .(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUPERVISOR OF THE ACTIVITY, MOHAMMED AL-YAMI, SAYING: "Today there was a dear occasion to everyone, the pledge of allegiance to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince and deputy second Crown prince, we saw the creativity of the youth-artists. It is our duty to support them." A VISITOR TAKING SELFIE WITH THE PAINTING IN THE BACKGROUND WOMEN TAKING PICTURE OF THE PAINTING ARTIST FINISHING THE PAINTING YOUNG MAN LEAVING HIS SIGNATURE ON THE WALL SAUDI KING PAINTING ON THE WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) A PASSERBY, YASSER MOHAMMED, SAYING: "In fact it's a wonderful picture and it is a very beautiful art. Each artist was working in a different area but it was a very sophisticated art." PAINTING WITH A SENTENCE THAT READS (Arabic): "JEDDAH PAYING ALLEGIANCE TO YOU" VARIOUS OF PAINTINGS
  • Embargoed: 11th March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAXU44Q6MH8YQ2RM7XBEKVO23E
  • Story Text: A group of Saudi graffiti artists in Jeddah decided to show their support for the new Saudi King, Salman, with their paintings ahead of the King's first visit in the city after he took over the reign of the country.
    Artists gathered in the coastal city on Friday (February 20) night to spray paint a large portrait of King Salman and the Crown Prince Muqrin and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
    "We like to pledge allegiance to the King in our way through the graffiti, and we hope it will gain the admiration of the people of Jeddah and the King of course, may God protect him, and we hope he visits us," said one of the participating artists, Abdullah Hassan.
    Before 2007, graffiti was forbidden by the local authorities. Dozens of young Saudis in the coastal city of Jeddah have challenged the authorities with street graffiti which has highlighted a growing generation gap in one of the world's most socially conservative countries.
    After months of chasing the culprits, authorities earmarked this public park space and some big walls for street artists to paint and draw what they liked -- as long as they stopped daubing graffiti elsewhere in the city.
    Today, graffiti art, which is popular with Saudi youth, has become accepted by authorities.
    The portraits of the Saudi king and his deputies was supported by Jeddah's municipality.
    "The municipality has long persuaded the line of engaging with young people to show their creativity in various activities and certainly the young people of Jeddah had excelled in graffiti," said Mayor of Jeddah, Dr. Hani Abu Ras.
    A space on the wall was left for residents of Jeddah to leave their signatures showing support for the new king.
    "Today there was a dear occasion to everyone, the pledge of allegiance to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince and deputy second Crown prince, we saw the creativity of the youth-artists. It is our duty to support them," said Mohammad al-Yami supervising the activity.
    Residents of Jeddah gathered around artists to watch them paint.
    "In fact it's a wonderful picture and it is a very beautiful art. Each artist was working in a different area but it was a very sophisticated art," said Yasser Mohammed, a Jordanian worker living in Jeddah.
    The murial took three days to complete and is 42 meters width and 30 meters high. Five hundred people left their signatures, voicing support for the new king.
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