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A group of Bahrain-based youngsters spent their National Day holiday spray-painting a street art piece in an homage to efforts - big and small - by the kingdom’s citizens and residents to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Rotaract Club of Bahrain (RCB) and the Art Attack Krew came together to tag and paint their largest-scale collaborative project, titled ‘#ShukranBahrain’ on the side of the car parking complex at The Avenues mall.
“In coming up with the design for this piece, we chose key elements of Bahrain’s culture such as horses, date palm trees, the sea and buildings like the Bahrain International Circuit’s Sakhir Tower and the Almoayyed Tower,” graffiti artist Aref Mohammed Guloom, better known by his street tag ‘Ayfu’ told GulfWeekly.
Although there has been an outpouring of art paying tribute to the frontline medical workers who continue to put their lives on the line in the fight against Covid-19, RCB’s vice-president Tanima Chakravorty wanted to thank every member of Bahrain’s community for staying at home, wearing masks, socially-distancing from loved ones and doing as much as they could to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The RCB executive committee decided to do this by elevating street art and worked with the Rotary Clubs of Adliya, Salmaniya and Seef, as well as a number of corporate sponsors, to put together an alternative socially-distanced full-day programme.
“We want to celebrate Bahrain’s triumph for humanity and our victory in staying united against Covid-19 - the Government, army, police force, frontliners and, above all, the people of Bahrain, who have shown strength, unity, dedication and commitment during this difficult time,” said RCB president Sanket Kothari.
“And, without the complete support of the mall management, our corporate sponsors and especially Hisham Jaffar, this initiative might never have happened.”
After being approached by the RCB, the recently-formed Art Attack Krew, comprised of 14 street artists including Ayfu and Samar Bushehri, whom GulfWeekly has previously profiled, got to work and came up with a Bahrain-inspired design.
On Bahrain’s 49th National Day, at 8am, Aref ‘Ayfu’ Mohammed Guloom, Samar Bushehri, Salman Aljar, Hussam Ali Aradi, Isa Mansoor and Mustafa Hamad got to work, joined later in the day by Fatima Mirza, Faisal Mohammed, Çağla Akpınar and Sara Mohammed. The team tagged late into the night to complete the piece, which will be on display for the next month.
“Working with a team is quite different than tagging on your own,” explained Ayfu.
“I start out with doodle marks to cover the space allotted for our piece. I then take a picture of the doodles and superimpose our design on top. This gives us a way to divide up the work and each do pieces, while the ‘doodle map’ keeps us on track.
“Since we have artists of all levels, along with tagging, a project like this, which is our largest so far, gives me an opportunity to train the others on advanced techniques as well.”
Samar added: “Ayfu may have come up with the original design, but we all added our input and a task like this called for teamwork.
“Wherever one of us was needed, we’d jump in and get it done. While having a crane instead of scaffolds would have helped us move faster, I understand that it would have impeded some of the other activities and destroyed the grass and natural beauty that accentuates this piece.”
The RCB also conducted a mental health awareness campaign during the day, giving attendees a platform and tools to talk about their personal challenges, especially during the pandemic.
As people floated in and out, reconnecting with their friends, the crew worked well past last Wednesday evening’s fireworks, finally finishing the piece around midnight. The team has also created a QR code that when scanned, brings the art piece to life.
For more details, follow @rotaractbahrain and @art.attack.krew on Instagram.
