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Bahraini street artists have been brightening up and beautifying an Adliya alley with massive murals in a bid to showcase their skills and inspire more graffiti gurus to take up the trade.
The fierce foursome - Rawan Alsairafi, Salman Aljar aka Sojr, Isa Mubarak and Aref ‘Ayfu’ Guloom - have been given the opportunity to style, spray and liven up a wall located behind a popular Thai restaurant by a private business owner, who told GulfWeekly that he believes in their work and wants to help promote local artists as well as the art scene in Bahrain.
While once graffiti was seen as unsanctioned artwork or as an act of vandalism, the urban art style is now being welcomed by different venues and fields for individuals to pick up that spray paint and create those colourful and boisterous designs.
“Street art and graffiti can be very diverse and can reach big audiences,” said 26-year-old Rawan, an artist and interior designer from Sanad. “Street art is something I have always been interested in and after getting to know more people in the art scene, such as the street artists I currently work with, I got very inspired to try it out. I feel this type of art can make a big difference in society because it can be used to communicate positive messages to a large number of people.”
Graffiti can be spray-painted, stencilled, stuck on surfaces or even created as a street installation. Video projection and yarn bombing have also gained some popularity near the turn of the 21st century.
Street art motifs are now being incorporated into advertising, with many instances of artists contracted to work as graphic designers for corporations.
Rawan initially started painting on the wall to enhance her spray-style but then it flourished into a way of expressing herself.
“I wanted to create artwork that can communicate with different generations, including children and adults,” added Rawan who has a diverse graffiti and street style. “I also enjoy spray painting in Adliya because a lot of people pass by that area and I believe doing this publicly in a busy area can really help encourage other women and people to get more involved in the street art scene. There are no rules to who can do this type of art and I want to show that to our community.
“I think it would be great to see more of this art around Bahrain, especially when used to convey a positive message to society. People are more open to the idea of graffiti and street art nowadays but there is still a long way to go. There will always be this stigma where people see this as vandalism, and rightly so as some people do this illegally, but we are here to show that it is not always the case.”
In fact, to counter that stigma and to support and empower youth and women, Rawan is working on a short film/documentary about street art in Bahrain.
“I support everyone who is interested in trying out graffiti to try it at least once, we are always happy to see new faces in the community and we are also supporting each other,” she added.
For example, architect and artist Isa, who was discovered by Ayfu in October 2020 for his talents, was encouraged to turn his small sketches into bigger scales.
“With a lot of practice on my own and with the crew over the years, I managed to reach the quality work that I’m doing today,” said the 26-year-old from Riffa. “We - myself, Salman and Ayfu started painting the Adliya wall in December 2021 and while beauty is definitely part of what I’m doing to the streets, as a surrealism artist, my artworks have meaning. I strive to put out a certain message or energy to the people that are observing it. My goal is to affect people and move their emotions.”
Apparently, their artworks can last for months on the wall to weeks, depending on how it all turns out.
“If we like it, it’s going to stay for some time,” he explained. “Otherwise, we’ll change it in a week or so. It takes a day or two to complete depending on the sketch and the weather conditions. I’d love to have my artwork all around the walls of Bahrain; it’s our goal. But of course, it’s only possible with permission and access to these walls. Support and any access to any wall in Bahrain would be greatly appreciated and we will try to do our best!”
Street artist Salman, 23, spray paints for his love of the art form and also to share it with the public. His style is portraiture or free style graffiti. His advice for aspiring artists is to practice, be patient and work hard.
A huge advocate of graffiti is 28-year-old Ayfu who started painting in 2009 after falling in love with urban culture while breakdancing in 2006. He loves it so much that it’s now his career.
“I do what I feel fits the vibe of the location and I am always looking for new ideas,” said Ayfu, who is currently on the look out to create his biggest mural yet and is in search of a spot to spray.
“I spray murals where I can express myself through my art. My aim is to beautify the location I visit and share my positive energy in my art. I get inspired by other artists that I learned from and how they turn an empty wall into something amazing and joyful for the whole community.”
For details on all the artists, follow @artbyrawana, @elsees.art3, @sojr.official and @ayfu.official on Instagram.
