Djerbahood

DjerbaHood

DAR ENNOUR,
GUEST HOUSE DJERBA

DJERBAHOOD opens, 20 September 2014: the big day…

Mehdi Ben Cheikh gives interview after interview to journalists from all over the world on the terrace of DAR ENNOUR – a spacious house in typical Djerbian style where he has set up his base, in the heart of the quiet village of ERRIADH –
Mehdi Ben Cheikh, director of the Paris gallery ITINERRANCE, has brought his new project to this peaceful little town. The gallery made its name in autumn 2013 with the huge success of Tour Paris 13, a social housing block in Paris’s 13th arrondissement that was turned into a temporary STREET ART museum before its demolition.

This time, with «DJERBAHOOD», ITINERRANCE and more than a hundred artists of some thirty nationalities are taking over, throughout the summer of 2014, the maze of a typical Djerbian village with its narrow winding streets and traditional houses, known as houchs.

Giant black scorpion painted in a ruined courtyard – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Giant scorpion in a ruin – Djerbahood, Djerba

Blue portrait of a young woman with braids on an ochre wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Blue portrait of a young woman – Djerbahood, Djerba

Two hands painted on a blue wooden gate – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Two hands on a blue gate – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black unicorn painted on an old façade beside a door – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Unicorn on an old façade – Djerbahood, Djerba

Child painted on a green door with blue patterns along a wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Child on a green door – Djerbahood, Djerba

Mural of a nursing mother along a long white wall, wide view – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Mother and child, wide view – Djerbahood, Djerba

White silhouette of a veiled woman on a dark wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Veiled woman silhouette – Djerbahood, Djerba

Veiled woman in black and white painted on a stone pillar – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Veiled woman on a pillar – Djerbahood, Djerba

Two black-and-white female profiles framing a wooden door – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Two profiles framing a door – Djerbahood, Djerba

Child's face with red patterns and gold shapes by blue shutters – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Child's face and blue shutters – Djerbahood, Djerba

Woman's face with red patterns above a pile of stones – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Woman's face and stones – Djerbahood, Djerba

Woman's profile with splashes – Djerbahood, Djerba

Colourful child's portrait with paint bursts and Arabic text – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Colourful child's portrait – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black chameleon painted inside a vaulted ruin, with clay jars – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Chameleon in a ruin – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black and white bird skull painted on an ochre wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Bird skull on an ochre wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Blue jellyfish painted on a ruined wall at sunset – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Jellyfish on a ruined wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Animal skull topped with a red brain on an ochre wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Skull and red brain – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black and white horse painted on a house at the end of an alley – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Horse painted in an alley – Djerbahood, Djerba

Painted moped above a real orange moped parked by the wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Painted and real moped – Djerbahood, Djerba

Blue calligraphy on an alley wall, locals sitting in the shade – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Blue calligraphy in an alley – Djerbahood, Djerba

Giant black and white egg painted on a ruined wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Giant egg on a ruined wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Giant black octopus wrapped around a white domed house – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Giant octopus on a house – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black and blue figures in motion across a white house – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Figures in motion – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black-and-white portrait of an old man on a blue gate – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Portrait on a blue gate – Djerbahood, Djerba

White lace patterns painted around a blue door – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

White lace and blue door – Djerbahood, Djerba

Isolated building painted with large eyes among palm trees – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Building with large eyes – Djerbahood, Djerba

White wall with an agave and a palm tree, a subtle artwork – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

White wall, agave and palm – Djerbahood, Djerba

Artist painting red and black Arabic calligraphy on a wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Red calligraphy being painted – Djerbahood, Djerba

Blue Arabic calligraphy wrapping round a white wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Blue calligraphy on a white wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Red calligraphy on the façades around a square in Erriadh – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Calligraphy around a square – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black-and-white portrait of an old man on a ruined wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Portrait of an old man – Djerbahood, Djerba

Frieze of women in traditional Djerban dress along a long wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Frieze of Djerban women – Djerbahood, Djerba

Dome painted as a globe with fish swimming in a blue ocean – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Dome painted as a globe – Djerbahood, Djerba

Large black and white feather painted beneath a house's windows – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Giant feather on a house – Djerbahood, Djerba

Pink Arabic calligraphy on a white wall beside a bougainvillea – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Pink calligraphy and bougainvillea – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black-and-white mural of a giant apple and seated figures – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Giant apple and figures – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black and red woman's face painted across a wall and wooden fence – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Black and red woman's face – Djerbahood, Djerba

Portrait of an old man on a ruined building, two women in front – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Portrait on a ruined building – Djerbahood, Djerba

Stylised blue figure on a turquoise background above a chequered floor – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Blue figure on turquoise – Djerbahood, Djerba

Garage door painted with red and blue geometric patterns – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Door with geometric patterns – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black cat on a blue background painted on a wall, seen from a rooftop – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Black cat seen from the rooftops – Djerbahood, Djerba

Mural of a nursing mother on a yellow background with a red triangle – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Mother and child on yellow – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black-and-white mural of entwined children on an ochre wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Entwined children on ochre wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Large blue and green dragonfly painted on an old stone wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Dragonfly on a stone wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Mural of black horses and riders galloping along a white wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Galloping riders on a white wall – Djerbahood, Djerba

Orange camel laden with colourful suitcases on a white house – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Camel laden with luggage – Djerbahood, Djerba

Pink mandala and cross-legged figure beside a green door – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Pink mandala and green door – Djerbahood, Djerba

Black cat on a blue background painted on an alley wall, passer-by – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Black cat on blue background – Djerbahood, Djerba

Berber woman adorned with gold jewellery painted on an alley wall – Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Berber woman with jewellery – Djerbahood, Djerba

Mural of a veiled woman holding a house, Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Mural, Djerbahood street art – Dar Ennour, Djerba

Yellow building topped with “THE HOOD” letters, Djerbahood, Erriadh

“The Hood”, Djerbahood – Dar Ennour, Djerba

Wall covered in painted blue and white tiles, Djerbahood street art, Erriadh

Painted tiles, Djerbahood – Dar Ennour, Djerba

«It’s like a little medina in the middle of nowhere», says Mehdi Ben Cheikh. He did not choose this traditional hamlet by chance: « It’s a village full of meaning, where Muslims, Jews and Catholics live together peacefully. »

Before starting work on the project, the French-Tunisian, who had long dreamed of doing something in his home country, did not know ERRIADH. While the fame of Djerba and its easy access via the international airport had made the island an obvious choice, it was a friend who recommended this peaceful, family-friendly village.

It was love at first sight: « I loved the architecture. Domes and vaults are a new challenge for the artists. Here there are no 50-metre-high walls, just small low houses. That’s what I wanted, and the beauty of the village won them all over. »

Mehdi Ben Cheikh built the “set design” of his project on site, day by day, creating a circular route through the medina, the oldest part of the village. But DJERBAHOOD goes well beyond this “official” route, a fairly tame showcase that is already full of pleasant surprises and detours.
Extra sites add to this treasure hunt: abandoned houses and schools that fill up day by day with hidden works, open to anyone who pushes the doors, including the anarchic wasteland of the old slaughterhouse that inspired the project’s name, the famous « HOOD ».
In the end, Ben Cheikh has given us a world first, a unique adventure in which an entire village becomes a free open-air museum, constantly renewed, where artists use the lanes, façades, old walls, gateways and traditional houses to celebrate the magic of the place, its people and its architecture.
But while the Tour 13 exhibition was destined for demolition, this project is designed to last. That is the magic and ambition of DJERBAHOOD: to become something never done before, the benchmark STREET ART museum.