9.6.10

Casualty

Please indulge me in another foray into street art, or art on the street.

That's a letter of the Arabic alphabet, surrounded by crime scene tape. I'm guessing someone murdered it. The only thing missing is the chalk outline, which I guess will be drawn once the detectives arrive to gather evidence.

Here's another:

I've seen others elsewhere in town, even a stunning one in red. That was the first one I saw, and at first I didn't get it. I thought maybe the paint on the letter was wet, maybe that explained the caution tape. But after coming across a few more examples I recognized that someone was trying to tell me something with these letters, these causalities of unnamed, undisclosed violence.

What do you think of it?

8 comments:

  1. They're arabic letters and the crime scene tapes translate to "dont kill your language"

    It must be an awareness campaign for Lebanese people to use the Arabic language more than English or French when speaking or writing...

    guymeetsworld.wordpress.com

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  2. I think it is fun for people to make their "statements" in art.

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  3. I think it is meant to get people thinking, but I'm not sure what about exactly.

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  4. Thanks for the translation, guymeetsworld.

    It's too bad that the text on the tape makes the whole thing so explicit. It almost seems like an accusation. "Preaching to the choir" is what my mother would call that, complaining to the ones who can understand that not enough people understand.

    Oh well.

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  5. I agree Mary Ann.

    Maybe it would have been better if it weren't so explicit.

    Just a crime scene around Arabic letters... Definitely would have gotten people to think more...

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  6. guymeetsworld said it all

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  7. 10x J.

    Guess what!

    Turns out this campaign is to promote "مهرجان اللغة العربيّة" [Arabic Language Festival]

    I saw an ad for it on Hamra today.
    The event is on June 26 in Hamra Street, from 8 am till 11 pm. They're gonna celebrate Arabic music, movies, theater, dancing, painting, children's activities, book show, poetry reading, photography, graphics, etc.

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  8. I like the concept that they used, the explicitness of the tape and all. It is unusual and attention getting.

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