El Seed French - Tunisian, b. 1981

In his project Perception, eL Seed is questioning the level of judgment and misconception society can unconsciously have upon a community based on their differences. In the neighbourhood of Manshiyat Nasr in Cairo, the Coptic community of Zaraeeb collects the trash of the city for decades and developed the most efficient and highly profitable recycling system on a global level. Still, the place is perceived as dirty, marginalised and segregated.

To bring light on this community, with his team and the help of the local community, he created an anamorphic piece that covers almost 50 buildings only visible from a certain point of the Moqattam Mountain. The piece of art uses the words of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, a Coptic Bishop from the 3rd century, that said:

‘Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first.’

The Zaraeeb community welcomed eL Seed and his team as they were family. It was one of the most amazing human experience he has ever had. They are generous, honest and strong people. They have been given the name of Zabaleen (the garbage people), but this is not how they call themselves. They don’t live in the garbage but from the garbage; and not their garbage, but the garbage of the whole city. They are the one who clean the city of Cairo.