"A Look at Street Art in Amman" by Rawan Shamaileh
Street art should be on every traveler to-do list, observing graffiti and taking the time to look for them to get a better grasp of the culture.
Street art was famous in Palestine, it was a way for people to express themselves. Lebanon came next with a culture more liberal compared to other conservative countries in the MENA region. In Egypt, street art became common only after the revolution and in Jordan, street art started 8 years ago during the Arab Spring.
Street Art in Amman
Street art did not become common in Jordan until 6 years ago. Before that, drawing on walls was considered an act of vandalism. People used to call it street literature as people mainly wrote quotes and phrases cheering for their football teams, leaders, lovers, or condemning occupation and authorities. People would write funny expressions too, or advertise for their nearby businesses.
Six years ago, graffiti artists started a great movement to paint on the grey, dull walls of Amman especially in old parts of Amman, where buildings are concrete gray blocks. And, suddenly, the ancient streets were invaded with modern and bright colors!
Artists were painting almost everything that can be painted! Walls, ceilings, stairs, even streets. And people from west Amman (the upper-class area) started going to old Amman neighborhoods like Jabal Amman, Lweibdeh, and downtown to view the masterpieces.
Even stairs in Amman - the ancient, gray cement, ugly stairs that connected downtown neighborhoods - became a destination for tourists, and locals to take selfies with the amazing artwork, hanging umbrellas, and colorful plant pots.
What used to be viewed as vandalism soon became a respected art, and those used to be viewed as thugs are now artists drawing on walls in daylight! People admired the colors, the powerful messages, the humor, and the stories coming with this new unconventional phenomenon.
Even the authorities slowly started accepting this form of art and realizing the importance of bringing colors and cultural messages into the city, and that it was becoming a touristic attraction that people from all over the world were rushing to see.
Street art moved from being random paintings and colors into a way to raise awareness to important issues such as women rights, occupation, and inequality. Nevertheless, street art is not legal yet, you have to get permission from the municipality before drawing on walls.
There are redlines the government does not want us to cross! Jordan is a conservative place and if you stay away from politics, religion, homosexuality, and nudity, everything else is fine.
Artists who crossed those red lines faced black spray painting over their artwork and sometimes faced interrogations by the authorities, especially if they attacked the monarchy.
Here is one heartbreaking example of the municipality reacting to controversial graffiti. Sara, a member of the LGBTQ community who died by suicide in asylum in Canada said in her suicide note, “Dear world you have been very harsh. but I forgive!” Activists were outraged and some painted her picture over a rainbow which angered many conservatives and the municipality sprayed over the graffiti.
Street Art as a therapy, tolerance, and counter-terrorism
Artists started expanding their work and drawing in impoverished neighborhoods and refugee camps. “It was therapy!” one artist said. “For us, and the kids in the camps, expressing ourselves in colors, illuminating these camps with our heritage and creativity, communicating with the refugees through art, and giving them the chance to express themselves and develop a sense of belonging to our country.”
Street art now is the new black in Amman! And it is very diverse due to the diverse culture in Jordan. Iraqis, Syrians, Palestinians, Circassians, communists, liberals, feminists, LGBTQ social movements, and political activists are expressing themselves in the most beautiful forms. Amman not only became accepting of this new trend, but every sector is competing to take part in it! Businesses call graffiti artists to paint on their walls for branding, paint companies provide free paint for artists as part of their CSR campaigns, the Amman municipality is urging artists and directing them to draw, street art tours are invading all travel websites, and a huge festival called Baladk (translated to English it means “your country”) is held every year to celebrate these artists and celebrate their work. In 2018, one of the participants in the festival was an American exchange student who spent most of his time in Amman connecting with graffiti artists and exploring their community.
One graffiti artist said Amman is now becoming what New York was in the 80s with all this wall art. While his colleague, disagreed and said this was part of our culture long before the 80s! The Middle East is the cradle of civilizations and our ancestors were drawing on walls of caves, stone cities, and churches long before we did on paper and canvas. This is our heritage, we are just reviving it with a modern twist.
