Ammar Abo Bakr

Ammar Abo Bakr, 2012

Ammar's work depicts the history of Egypt, Islamic culture, and the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Some of his most well known murals were on Mohamed Mahmoud Street which is close to Tahrir Square where the January 25 revolution occurred. His work is inspired by what is going on in the country at the time and by what society wants.
Since his work often goes against the government, it can be dangerous when creating these works or murals. He sometimes has to take time off in a certain location because he knows of many family and friends who have gone to prison.

During and shortly after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Ammar was busy putting graffiti on anything he could find. Other artists and activists were also writing on public spaces, so not only were they sending messages to the government, but they also were keeping up a dialogue among themselves and responding to other artists' graffiti work. His work on Mohamed Mahmoud Street was especially important because this street connects Tahrir Square and the Ministry of the Interior. The graffiti on this street served as a "newspaper" of what was happening during the revolution. When writing about his work, Abo Bakr noted, "What we did in Egypt in recent years was not about presenting art, at least it wasn't to me: We used walls as a newspaper... Me, I was a fine arts assistant professor. I left the faculty of arts to report on the revolution in the city’s walls."[6]

In 2012, Ammar, along with other artists started the "No Walls" campaign.[4] This campaign was aiming to cover with graffiti all of the concrete barricades that had been put up by the government.[7] The government put barricades up in neighborhoods, which were not only a visual sign of oppression but also inconvenienced the community members because they had to navigate through the barricades. Along with famous artists, many community members helped paint the walls. There were intricate murals or simple paintings of the continuation of the street behind the barricades. The goal of the campaign was to use trompe-l'œil to artistically transform the restrictive barriers put in place by Egypt's Interior Ministry, in order to make it appear as if they were not there.[8]

Ammar is strongly connected with everyday Egyptian people. He credits them for giving him his inspiration and creativity.[9] He also believes that the art in Luxor and Cairo should remain out of galleries because that limits who sees it and because art is constantly changing.[9]