Time International - 11 April 2022

ART △ for years and it was just waiting for me to express
it,” he says. Two years later—on the day before his
The artist eL Seed Artist eL Seed in daughter, now 11, was born—eL Seed quit his day
takes calligraphy his Dubai studio job to dedicate himself to art full time.
to the streets
on Feb. 17 Beginning in 2013, eL Seed took up a one-year
BY NICOLA CHILTON residency at Dubai’s Tashkeel contemporary art
and design center at the invitation of founder
THE DUBAI-BASED ARTIST EL SEED, WHO DRAWS and director Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum bin
upon Arabic calligraphy’s looping and curved Rashid Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s rul-
shapes to create mesmerizing and often massive ing family. It was apparent he would “make work
installations of wood, metal, glass, and more, be- with an impact,” says Sheikha Lateefa.
lieves words are powerful—and that’s why he in-
corporates them into his work. One of his most Key to eL Seed’s approach, says Sheikha La-
recent works, for example, took the form of a teefa, is his thoughtfulness regarding the commu-
giant colorful installation of painted fabric across nities in which he’s working. “He is the inventor
the rooftops of the Nepali village of Giranchaur, of the idea, but then uses communities to actu-
which was leveled by an earthquake back in 2015 ally think through what he is making and how it is
and rebuilt mostly by local women. “There is produced.” Indeed, eL Seed says he understands,
nothing between us, nothing at all,” read the Ara- when making large-scale public art projects, it’s es-
bic script on the piece, which quoted Nepali poet sential to get into the mindset that you’re working
and activist Yogmaya Neupane. “Your eyes have for those who live there, rather than creating what-
tears, just like my own.” ever you’d like. “You give this feeling of ownership
to people, and that’s what I love,” he says.
Seven years after opening his Dubai studio,
eL Seed, whose projects have appeared every- 99
where from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the
Korean demilitarized zone, is at the forefront of
that city’s vibrant and growing arts community.
“What I like about this place is the diversity, and
seeing people from different communities, ethnic-
ities, and religions being able to practice and live
on their own terms, but in respect of everybody
else,” he says. His public works can be spotted
throughout the city; what he considers his most
iconic piece in Dubai, Declaration, is a bright pink
sculpture outside the Dubai Opera ripe for public
engagement. “I invite people to climb on the struc-
ture, to walk through it, under it,” says the artist.

Born 40 years ago in France to Tunisian par-
ents, eL Seed—a pseudonym referencing the
17th century French tragicomedy Le Cid, it-
self based on an Arabic word, sayyid, meaning
master—painted his first wall in a Parisian sub-
urb as a teenager in 1998. “A woman saw me
from a balcony and was screaming like crazy say-
ing, ‘I’m gonna call your mum right now!’ I was
looking at her like, What’s wrong?” he says. “The
wall is gray, I bought the paint, I painted an art
piece on the wall, I’m making the neighborhood
more beautiful.”

HIS PROFESSIONAL ART CAREER didn’t begin
until a decade later when, while working as a busi-
ness consultant in Montreal, he painted his first
piece of Arabic calligraphy as public art. “I felt
something was missing from my life. I was dying
inside, and I just wanted to paint,” he says. “I had
this impression that something had been in me

6 QUESTIONS

Michelle Yeoh The actor talks about her new
movie set in the multiverse, her inspiration for this

new role, and how to feel limitless

You’re starring in Everything Ev- Did you ever able to keep it together; not every-
erywhere All At Once, a title that find it hard to body is able to be successful at what
might also describe your career keep up with all they set out to be.
lately. You just appeared in Shang- the different
Chi, are currently filming American worlds in the We don’t always see films
Born Chinese, and have other proj- multiverse? centered around difficult middle-
ects. But the movie is about a laun- aged women, much less sci-fi
dromat owner who discovers alter- action comedies like this one. JON KOPALOFF—GETTY IMAGES
nate realities and amazing skills. How did you feel taking on a
It’s a good thing, right? Who would layered character like Evelyn?
have thought, at my age, to be busier I love the beauty that she becomes
than ever? I’m very, very lucky. a superhero, that she’s allowed to
be a superhero. All of us have the
I loved the film. What drew you to superpower in us when we are able
this project? When was the last time to show kindness, because that is a
you saw a woman like this become a great superpower that will enable
superhero? So I immediately said, “I us to help the people around us,
need to meet these two directors [Dan especially those we love, to find
Kwan and Daniel Scheinert].” They acceptance in ourselves in whatever
had me with their passion, the clar- we’re doing.
ity of the story that they were telling.
They have very strong women in their What does it feel like to have this
lives, basically their mothers, which absurdist comedic role that also
made sense when it came together. I uses all your skills as an action star
signed on after I understood where at this time in your career? If after
they were coming from. They told 30-something-odd years being in
me, “Well, you know, Michelle, if you the business, I can still surprise you,
refused to do this movie, we would that means I am doing something
have to go back and rewrite the whole right. As an actor, that’s what you
script again.” In their craziness, they want to do—the last thing you want
really believed in me. to do is to be stereotyped or typecast
or put in a box. When I approached
How did you prepare to embody Evelyn, I was like, “I do not want to
Evelyn? Every time I take on a new be recognized as Michelle Yeoh; I do
role, I have to give her history; I have not want you to see Michelle in any
to know where she’s coming from. Be- form.”
cause Evelyn is a real character and
she deserves her story to be told in its At the beginning, Evelyn feels
entirety, I kept a diary of Evelyn Wang really limited in her life, but by
[starting from] when she left China the end, she realizes that the only
with the man she loved, much to the limitations are the ones she has
dismay of her parents, and her father been putting on herself. Was there
disowning her because she didn’t do anything that you could relate to
what he wanted. She had the Ameri- within feeling limited or limitless?
can Dream, like a lot of immigrants If you don’t feel like you’re capable,
do, because they are in search of a bet- if you don’t think you’re capable,
ter life. Hoping for one thing, which then you won’t be capable. Because
was what Evelyn did, they started the first person that says no is you—
their laundromat, they started a fam- you’ve already said no. So how are
ily, and maybe it’s all coming together. you going to be able to do anything?
But then it’s hard. Not everybody is
—CADY LANG
100 TIME April 11/April 18, 2022



Elegance is an attitude

Kate Winslet

The Longines
Legend Diver Watch