Days ago, social media, especially Facebook, went viral with different posts shared by a page called “Songraffiti,” in which every post contains lyrics from a song and turning them into caricature pieces. The pieces have a dramatic shot, contrasting the song’s lyrics.
This raised the question of “does social media revive the funniest lines from old comedy films? or do they only reflect how people recall these memes or lines of the movies?”
Daily News Egypt interviewed the 25-year-old pediatrician, Nada Salah Amer who is the founder of “Songraffiti,” to learn more about her project.
She started telling her story to DNE, narrating her journey with Songrafitti by how she was very fond of art since she was a little girl, making drawing her hobby ever since.
“Afterwards, it became my habit to always listen to songs while drawing, by the time I started drawing illustrations inspired by the songs I listen to, I started to post them on my personal account,” she recalled.
She then continued to say that surprisingly she found that her posts went viral on Facebook and that it received very positive feedback from her friends list.
“The situation passed, and I didn’t really think too much of it or how I could find success and transform it into a project, but by the time the people in my friend list began to ask for more caricatures, I began to feel that I have the talent for translating the feelings a piece of music embodies to art and finding joy in it. I decided to share my work publicly on my Facebook page, launching Songraffiti,” she said, with a smile on her face.
Concerning the name, Amer said she invented the word, as it clearly expresses the idea of mixing art with music.
Everyone was thinking that the page was launched days ago, but she said it started it in February 2015, explaining that she thinks when she posted recently a collection inspired from sarcastic Egyptian movie lines and memes, it went trendy and that’s how everyone found it out , thinking it was new.
Amer remarked that the page’s main goal was to spread happiness among people, mentioning that it is not a commercial project, assuring that she is mainly a doctor, and that this is just a hobby.
She said that each caricature illustration post takes around an hour, adding the steps of publishing the illustration starts with finding the idea. “I keep listening to the song and feel it, then choose the most inspiring sentence in the lyrics that have a deep meaning, and most of the times I draw the songs that people ask me to draw, but through my vision and ideas.”
“The second step is the hardest, in which I start brainstorming to find the most creative idea that delivers the same message in the simplest way, then comes the last step, i.e. drawing it.”
“I illustrate it on my iPad then add the sentence I chose using a calligraphy application, adding my signature and watermark before posting it online,” she explained.
Amer said happily that what keeps her going and doing more illustrations, is the positive feedback, assuring that she feels grateful towards everyone feedbacks.
“I think currently it will be hard for me to turn my project into a commercial one, I like to keep it simple and with no pressure, but who knows what the future holds,” she said in a relaxing voice.
When asked about which caricature drawing she likes best, she said that she loved all her drawings, then she said that she loved figure one. “That caricature was done for a friend of her who was entirely depressed.
“my goal is to let him know that these tough times will pass, and I want to deliver this message to anyone who is going through hard times. These hard times will pass by in the coming days and will be better than before, if we just believe,” she said with a promising voice.
Concerning figure two, she said that she loved it because it showed the positive impact someone could have on someone else’s life.
“I think it carries a message that if one makes some effort to change the lives of the people around them, it will surely be worth it,” she said.
Regarding figure three, Amer explained that she loves this one because it expresses the artist herself passing through many situations in her life, where she found herself surrounded by people who don’t get her and cannot see her sorrow hidden by a smile, thinking that all of the people of course pass by this situation
As for the fourth figure, she said she loved this one because it gives all hard workers a promise that their hard work will pay off one day.
The last figure mixed between her job as a doctor and her hobby, which is drawing illustrations, so it somehow represents her motto or goal in life.
“Caricature is a timeless style of art it that can never end or disappear,” she summed up.
“I hope I can make the world a better place with my art and through my job as a doctor, I wish people would always love what I do and I hope I get to spread happiness always,” she concluded.
