Shoof

Child of the medina of Tunis, Hosni Hertelli - whose real name is - deconstructed the Arabic alphabet to question the place of language in our contemporary societies.

The movement is lively, repetitive, without hesitation and perfectly paced. The brush almost mechanically brushes the glass plates that overhang an amphitheater in the center, mysterious and magical at the same time, the voices of the six munshid (Muslim religious singers) of the Al Nabolsy ensemble rise. In a gesture of perfect metronome, not without a certain grace, Shoof shakes up the Arabic alphabet with a calligraphy which marries the circular and infinite choreography of three whirling dervishes, dancers of the Sufi brotherhood Mawlawiyya of Damascus who offered a moment of grace to the visitors to the Quai Branly museum in November 2015.

Using paint, which he dilutes with more or less water, the Tunisian street artist draws pieces of dripping letters. A dripping, which in a paradoxical movement gives the impression that the line stretches towards the sky. The calligraphy of this autodidact is not Orthodox.

“It is even illegible, he admits, because it is abstract. I deconstruct the letters for a result which, in the end, is readable and understandable by all. We find this dimension in the songs of these Sufis. It is extraordinary to see the audience of White Spirit applaud and ovation these artists, whose songs are praises to God that the vast majority of Parisian spectators do not understand. Art is what interests us. "