Artist talks about love of El Kef region скачать в хорошем качестве

Artist talks about love of El Kef region

(29 May 2015) LEADIN: In one of the most marginalised regions in Tunisia, an artist has created a cultural site where art, humanity, love and legends mix. Ammar Belghith hopes to show-off the beauty of the El Kef region, with a little help from his distinctive works of art. STORYLINE: A warm sun hits the countryside of El Medeina. This idyllic spot is home to the painter Ammar Belghith - and many of his unusual artworks. Working from his 10 hectare (24 acre) piece of land, 190 kilometres (118 miles) Southwest of the Tunisian capital, in El Kef region, Belghith has created a local cultural attraction 'Al-Thiburos cave'. The 65-year-old painter cleared out the old cave in 2001, setting up his workshop. Since then, he's adorned its walls with paintings, poems and some artwork that's been painted directly onto the walls of the ancient cave, and he has invited visitors in to take a look. He says he wants to promote his region - one of the most marginalised in Tunisia. "I am here to create a place of curiosity because this area suffers." "It's a magnificent place and of great beauty but still, no one is talking about it, no one. Everyone speaks of Hammamet, Djerba, Nabeul, but no one talks about El-Medeina, Al-Thiburos even though it's twenty times prettier," explains Belghith. The artist has a distinctive style of art he's dubbed 'infinitism painting'. He came up with the idea while living in Asia. It's a collaborative concept where one painter starts a painting on one canvas and starts sketches on a second canvas. Another artist paints from the sketches and then paints on a third canvas and the painting is quite literally endless. Seeing himself as a "Don Quixote of Culture", this lover of arts wished to develop a reservation to protect artists from this world. "They (the artists) can protect themselves from extinction. Any artist who wants to avoid extinction can come to me. All the artists in Muslim societies and I are here like the redskins in America. You see, like the Indian reservations in America, this is a cultural reservation," says Belghith. Locals soon became curious about what Belghith was up to and started to visit the caves. There's also a "chic" restaurant, rated "Two shovels and a pitchfork" - punning the "forks" classing system of the Michelin restaurant guide - where people can bring and cook their own food. The calm and the distance from the world attracts families and Belghith hopes more people will visit as the word spreads. "We came to walk around, to be in nature here among the vestiges of El-Medeina. We came as a family with a picnic and the children can have fun in nature and the pure air," says Amira Akremi, a nurse in El Kef city. For the past five years, one of the main attractions has been the "well of love" - and Belghith encourages his visitors to drink its water. As a child he says he wasn't allowed to play next to the well because of evil spirits there. A Berber legend says the two fig trees next to the well grew after two lovers died there. Using the story, Belghith developed his own story: the legend of Maysar and Markunda, a noble judge and a young Berber girl who loved each other and died next to each other, giving magic properties to the well. "There are people now who believe this and they come from all over Tunisia to drink this water. It's over, it's no longer the story I invented, the well is now becoming a reality," says Belghith. He says many women who have came to implore Markunda quickly got married afterwards. People can even purchase their own bottle of 'Markunda' water. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...