One of Cairo’s under-developed neighborhoods, Manshiyat Naser (located on the borders of Nasr City and the base of Mokattam hills), has been turned into a work of art.

The remarkable Tunisian street artist eL Seed, known for his “calligraffiti” style, took over the whole neighborhood, and the results are absolutely stunning.

Here’s what eL Seed had to say about the project on his Facebook page:

In my new project ‘Perception’ I am questioning the level of judgment and misconception society can unconsciously have upon a community based on their differences. In the neighborhood 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, marginalized and segregated. To bring light on this community, with my team and the help of the local community, I 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.’ ‘إن أراد أحد أن يبصر نور الشمس، فإن عليه أن يمسح عينيه’ The Zaraeeb community welcomed my team and I as we were family. It was one of the most amazing human experience I have 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.

‪#‎perception‬ ‪#‎athanasius‬ ‪#‎zaraeeb‬ ‪#‎cairo‬

Many have taken to social media to show support, expressing how the country needs more artists like him who can transform informal settlements into beautiful pieces of art.

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