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STORY: SOMALIA / ARTISTS
TRT: 3:04
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SOMALI/NATS
DATELINE: 15 & 20 JANUARY 2013, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
15 JANUARY 2013, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Med shot, Ahmed Mohamed Mudey mixing paints
2. Close up, paint being poured into a container
3. Wide shot, Ahmed Mohamed looking at sketch for his painting
4. Med shot, Ahmed Mohamed hand with brush painting
5. Med shot, Ahmed Mohamed painting
6. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmed Mohamed Mudey, Artist:
“There will be a man putting in soil for the tree on one side and on the other side there will be a woman watering it. It shows the government is growing and we want Somalis to see that.”
7. Med shot, hand with paintbrush
8. Wide shot, painters at the Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD) in Mogadishu
9. Med shot, rack focus from painting on the wall to painter
10. Med shot, painters working at CRD
11. Close up, brush being mixed on a paint board
12. Med shot, artist Mohamed Ali Towoh
13. Wide shot, Mohamed Ali Towoh, painting an image of the founder of CRD
14. Close up, painting of the founder the late Abdulkadir Yahya Ali
15. Wide shot, Ahmednur H. Abdulle, Director of CRD, talking to art trainee
16. Close up, Ahmednur H. Abdulle
17. Med shot, Ahmednur H. Abdulle talking with art trainee
18. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmednur H. Abdulle, Director, Centre for Research and Dialogue:
“Al-Shabaab people believe that art is “haram” prohibited from in Somali religion, but as soon as al-Shabaab started defeating (started being defeated) these artist came out. That’s the only time they can come out and show their talent to the public. Before that they can’t, they could not even come out from their homes.
20 JANUARY 2013 MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
19. Wide shot, Mogadishu streets with billboards in the background
20. Med shot, people walking in front of billboards
21. Med shot, billboard depicting a change from warlord days
22. Close up, painting on the billboard
23. Wide shot, billboard depicting Somalis choking corruption
24. Close up, billboard
25. Wide shot, new billboard being put up
26. Med shot, man hammering the billboard into place
27. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohamed Ali Tohow, Artist:
“This painting has great importance and you can see it from the title it says ‘all people are equal before the law’ and that means the MPs, the president, the ministers and ordinary people are all equal before the law.”
28. Wide shot, taxi driver talking to the painters about the billboard
29. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Abukar Ahmed Mohamed, Taxi driver:
“I think it means that everyone is equal before the law. The painting shows the police arresting an old man who looks responsible, but there’s something in his hand that he may have stolen or used to break the law. It means that if someone who looks respectable can be arrested and ordinary people can be arrested too.”
15 JANUARY 2013 MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
30. Wide shot, CRD compound
31. Med shot, artist working
32. Med shot, painting depicting new Somalia president
33. Med shot, painting depicting al-Shabaab’s negative influence on Somalia
34. Close up, paint showing an al-Shabaab fighter without eyes
35. Close up, Somali flag in a painting
36. Med shot, painting depicting Somali people joining hands to build Somalia
Some artists say that an empty canvas can be a very intimidating thing - but not for Ahmed Mohamed Mudey. He knows exactly what he wants to paint today.
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmed Mohamed Mudey, Artist:
“There will be a man putting in soil for the tree on one side and on the other side there will be a woman watering it. It shows the government is growing and we want Somalis to see that.”
Until recently, Mudey and the other veteran artists working here at Mogadishu’s Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD), had either given up their craft or were painting in secret.
Art, sports and various other forms of entertainment were forbidden by the extremist al-Shabaab, whose time in power is considered one of the most repressive since Somalia’s troubles began in 1991.
Not only did artists receive death threats, the late Abdulkadir Yahya Ali, a prominent peace activist, founder of the CRD and patron of the arts, was murdered in his home by suspected al-Shabaab fighters.
With the support of several development agencies, Ali’s friends and successors like Ahmednur Abdulle, are overseeing a project that helps Somali artists create pieces about their country’s dramatic change in fortunes.
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmednur H. Abdulle, Director, Centre for Research and Dialogue:
“Al-Shabaab people believe that art is “haram” prohibited from in Somali religion, but as soon as al-Shabaab started defeating (Started being defeated) these artist came out. That’s the only time they can come out and show their talent to the public. Before that they can’t, they could not even come out from their homes.
Clearly, times have changed. The project’s members have placed over 20 paintings in high-traffic parts of Mogadishu. Many of these places were no-go areas until al-Shabaab fled the capital and much of central and southern Somalia, under pressure from the Somali National Security Forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia or AMISOM.
The East African country now has an interim constitution, parliament and president - Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud. Not only will they have to rebuild Somalia’s institutions and infrastructure, they will also have to inspire and educate their populace about the various rights and privileges they were denied under the al-Qaeda affiliated militants, and that’s where artists like Mohamed Tohow can help.
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohamed Ali Tohow, Artist:
“This painting has great importance and you can see it from the title, it says ‘all people are equal before the law’ and that means the MPs, the president, the ministers and ordinary people are all equal before the law.”
Tohow’s painting has just been mounted in Waberi District, near a busy taxi park. It doesn’t take long before people notice it and begin interpreting its underlying message.
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Abukar Ahmed Mohamed, Taxi driver:
“I think it means that everyone is equal before the law. The painting shows the police arresting an old man who looks responsible, but there’s something in his hand that he may have stolen or used to break the law. It means that if someone who looks respectable can be arrested and ordinary people can be arrested too.”
While Somalia’s future remains full of challenges, this creative group of Somalis believes that a stroke of the brush can go a long way to bringing back hope.
