Self-expression signals hit Cairo skyline

Cairo: One day last September, US artist Jason Stoneking was sitting on a Cairo balcony chatting with an Egyptian colleague, when the sight of rusty satellite dishes on top of buildings around inspired him to embark on a project. His idea was to turn these dishes into a forum of self-expression, using a paintbrush.

Stoneking, a poet and an essayist, was in Egypt for a residency programme at Artellewa Art Space in the informal settlement of Ardellewa in western Cairo. He began his project, the Cairo Dish-Painting Initiative, by painting dishes on the roof of the Artellewa Art Space.

Months later, the project gained popularity and went beyond Ardellewa to other districts of Cairo, the Arab world’s most populous capital of around 17 million people.

“The aim of the project was to encourage the people of Cairo to express themselves by using this system of ready-made canvases that was already in place across the skyline of the city,” Stoneking said.

“I thought the dishes represented a great visual channel for the expression of individual voices, and I thought that the idea of expressing these voices through paint rather than words would be a great way to invite everyone to participate, regardless of their views or ideas, without having to be afraid of what others might think,” he told Gulf News.

Over the past weeks, local media has shown residents in heavily populated areas of Cairo happily painting their dishes. Word also spread via a special Facebook page that has generated a wide following.

“Everybody was very positive about the project. There were a few people who asked why they needed a foreigner to paint their dishes for them, and I was always very happy to point out that they didn’t need me at all. It’s a project that they can take over and continue to do without me, which is exactly what I hope to see happen.”

Jason left Egypt days ago, pleased with how the project has fared.

Unique character

“During the time I was there I painted on several rooftops in Ardellewa as well as in other neighbourhoods like Al Marj [a suburban Cairo area] and even downtown,” he said. “The idea was always to encourage people to paint their own dishes, one at a time, until the skyline reflected the diversity of ideas that exists beneath it.”

Stoneking, 40, has an interest in vibrant Cairo. “I wasn’t the first artist in the world to ever paint a dish, but I do think there’s something about Cairo that makes it a particularly interesting place for this project and has made the idea spread quickly there.”

Financing the project was not an issue for concern to Stoneking.

“The dishes that my friends and I did were with paint that I paid for myself. But I would never be able to paint the whole city’s rooftops with my own paint,” he said. “And it also wouldn’t be very interesting if all the dishes were painted by one person in one style.”

But, he has no plan to do the project in another city around the world.

“The Dish-Painting Initiative is a site-specific project for Cairo,” Stoneking said. “It is a reaction to my feelings about my time in Cairo, and a project that I was inspired to do by that city.”

To him, every city has its own unique character and inspires its own types of ideas. “If I move on to another city, I would like to think I would come up with a different idea for that place, rather than just repeating the same one again.”

Having left Egypt, Stoneking hopes that the project will continue to thrive in Cairo.

“The idea is for the project to go on forever. I would love to someday see the whole Cairo skyline decorated with painted dishes. Perhaps it could even become a new tourist attraction for the city,” he said. “Now it’s time for the local people who care about the project to pick up their paintbrushes and keep it going.”