A street artist travelled from Palestine to Glasgow to unveil a brand new mural inspired by his ‘precious’ homeland over the weekend.
Taqi Spateen brought his artistic talent to the city and created a large-scale mural in the east end – with its exact location on Stevenson Street near to Barrowlands Gate.
He collaborated with Ciaran Glöbe, one of the artists behind the fake Banksy which appeared near Buchanan Street last June, to bring his vision to life and will work with other local artists across the UK.
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The artist is liasing with fellow creatives about the plans, both logistical and artistic, for the murals being created.
Graffiti art is a major cultural force in Palestine. In August 2005, UK street artist Banksy and his team painted seven large murals on a section of the 440-miles-long West Bank Wall, also referred to as the Separation Wall. Since then, the wall has gone on to become a hotspot for the graffiti scene.
Taqi has created many murals on the wall including ‘The Boy with the Goldfish Bowl’ – showing a child with what is left after the destruction of his childhood home – a series of portraits of George Floyd, and his collaboration with the brand The North Face ‘Walls Are Meant For Climbing’.
Now creating and exhibiting internationally, he draws inspiration from the Palestinian countryside, particularly the olive tree, one of the most famous of all Palestinian symbols. His more recent paintings also include depictions of mass urbanisation and colonial settlements on his precious homeland.
Taqi’s talent is being showcased as part of the Bethlehem Cultural Festival – set up in 2020 to put the artists, arts and culture of Palestine and Bethlehem centre stage.
The Festival’s creative director, Melissa Scott, says: “We are excited to be able to facilitate collaborations between Taqi and UK-based street artists.
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“We hope the resulting murals will be a lasting legacy demonstrating our hopes to eliminate the walls and borders that divide us as humans. We continue to be devastated by the violence inflicted on all our friends, artists and cultural practitioners in Palestine.”
He will now head to Bristol to work with a team of artists as part of Upfest, Europe’s largest street art and graffiti festival. On Saturday (June 1) he goes to Stroud to work with Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA) and the Picturedrome Theatre in Gloucester.
From June 6 to 15, he will be teaming up with Austrailian-born artist Jimmy C in London.
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