Johannesburg – French graffiti artist Elodie Arshak, 37, is all about spreading messages of tolerance and peace to people from all walks of life, and she has travelled the globe to do so through street art.
Born in France to immigrant parents, she is in South Africa with several other graffiti artists from the Artists for Israel project.
The project is focused on spreading respect, diversity, freedom, peace and love through various forms of art, including street art.
While in South Africa, she and her fellow artists would love to meet local people and talk with them “as our personal experiences are our best ‘gasoline’.
“We’d love to share our three important values and have the chance to learn better about the local culture and feelings,” she said.
Arshak explained that they learnt about every mural they painted.
“It’s not just about the mural but also about what happens around us while we are painting and to learn about new cultures, different points of view. We hope that South African people will enjoy our art and we will be able to share a little bit of ourselves with them,” she said.
For Arshak, to paint in a new country is always a challenge; “as you can imagine, the human part of a project like this is primordial”. Read more