Perception is a personal account of the journey to complete eL Seed’s most ambitious artwork – an anamorphic mural over 50 buildings in Manshiyat Nasr district, the neighbourhood of the Cairo garbage collectors. Inside the book is the artist’s story, several interviews with members of the neighbourhood and hundreds of photographs charting the extraordinary process from beginning to end.

The first 500 copies are limited editions, which include an insert of recycled paper sourced from within the community and have a hand-painted cover by the artist himself. Each book bears a single part of the mural. The full image was painted over the first 500 books so that when the books are placed together, they complete the jigsaw.

Part of the proceeds from the book sales will be donated to the Manshiyat Nasr community. The funds will go towards building a park for the kids of the neighborhood within the district.

About the Artist:

EL SEED

France

eL Seed’s intricate calligraphic compositions are a reaction to the reality of mankind and the world we live in. At the age of 16, eL Seed chose his pseudonym while he was studying one of Corneille’s plays in his literature class. Like Corneille’s “The Cid”, eL Seed, “lives in service of art and hopes to foster peace, without prejudice for anyone he meets, driven only by art and by a message.” In 2017, he won the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture. He was named a Global Thinker in 2016 by Foreign Policy for his project ‘Perception” in Cairo. In 2015, the international organization TED recognized him as a “TED Fellow” for advocating peaceful expression and social progress through his work.