Visual arts can widen participation amongst young people and hard to reach groups. Mohammed Ali on the power of visual arts and how working with communities had energised him.
Working with young people in art
Mohammed Ali is an urban graffiti artist, whose work has been exhibited across the UK and around the world.
It’s difficult to really explain the feeling and even the emotion that I’d experienced when creating the wall in New York, the Bronx mural.
"The concept of Aerosol Arabic is basically a creative kind of platform for me to express myself as a young urban designer Muslim living in the UK.
"Working with the young people is something, personally, I enjoyed doing. This is something I feel I have to do.
"It’s my responsibility for the next generations to come that I have to give in whatever way I can, to be able to leave them with something that’s going to benefit them and create a better society.
"So young people, I think definitely straight away, urban graffiti art is kind of visual art form that they can appreciate, they can connect with."
Creating the Bronx mural in New York
"It’s difficult to really explain the feeling and even the emotion that I’d experienced when creating the wall in New York, the Bronx mural.
"It really for me was a huge achievement, I would say personally, to take the Islamic or the spiritual graffiti that I do, right to the heart where graffiti first kind of originates from. The Mecca of graffiti, as you would say.
"Just seeing the message of the wall, which was 'Verily, to God we belong and to Him we shall return’, that’s the English translation of the Islamic prayer you make when you hear of someone’s death.
"So this very wall was dedicated to the nine people who died in apartment fire in March 2007. The family had come down. The mother who was in a wheelchair still, had wheeled down and she was spraying the wall with me.
"They were very tearful and emotional that day. I thought: this is the power of Art. This is what art should be about."
Using art to bring communities together
"Using Art reaching out to communities, that would probably very rarely connect with visual arts or experience or be able to engage in this way.
"And I thought that's what I'd done: in the heart of New York, brought the community together.
"They were very emotional that day. This is the power of Art."
"There were people who were crowded together, all united as one and recognised the message of the wall.
"There were some critics on the day that walked past that were like, 'oh people are going to go over it. People are going to tag on top of it'. Nobody has put a speck of paint over it. Because they will respect it. They knew it's a wall for their community.
"It's probably the project that made me think that I have to be committed to what I do. I have seen the fruits to what art can bring.
"Seeing the colour, seeing the art in the heart of the community. It was a tribute to that family. That was a very special moment for me."
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